


The Supernatural Hunger Games

by lovingsmutandfluff



Category: Hunger Games - Fandom, Supernatural
Genre: AU, Brotherly Love, Caring, Character Death, Crying, Dean looking out for Sammy, Death, Explicit Language, Gen, Graphic Violence, Hunger Games, I think they'll be saying fuck a lot, I'm making a bunch of people from Supernatural die, Language, Lots and lots of people die, MotherHen!Jess, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Violence, Violent, You Have Been Warned, because it's the Hunger Games, but only during the later chapters, but when is that something new?, caring!Jess, hurt!Dean, it'll be sad later on, no really, some blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:15:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 39,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovingsmutandfluff/pseuds/lovingsmutandfluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester is trying to get along in District 12 and make sure his brother has the best upbringing that he can get.  It's Reaping Day, and the Winchesters are brought to Town Square along with all of the other families to see who will get pulled for the Games. Dean thinks it's gonna be another average Reaping, until he hears the one name called that he never thought he's hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reaping

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, I got the idea to do this from Tumblr (I've seen at least 3 or 4 post about it) where what would happen if Sam and Dean were living in Panem, and what would Dean do if Sam's name was called for the Reaping. This is my take on it. Also, there is NO LOVE STORY (not that I don't mind love stories in Supernatural), but I don't believe Dean needs a romantic love story to get through the Games, only his brotherly love for Sam. I also think it is a little ridiculous on how the media is so worried over the love story between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale (but that is a whole different story).
> 
> Somehow I managed to find enough females to use for all the tributes. Who knew? Some (OK a lot) of people may not make sense for the District I put them in, but hey, I tried.
> 
> There are obviously going to be similar things in this story that might look like things from the THG. There are things in this story that I personally believe should be similar to the actual HG book.
> 
> I don't own Supernatural or The Hunger Games.
> 
> NOTE: I have gone back through the story and tried to fix up all the small mistakes and errors that I made. I think I got everything, but something might have passed by. If you guys see a mistake or something, comment about it and I'll take a look at the part. Thanks :)

Dean Winchester stealthily snuck back to his house. It was way past curfew, but he had to make sure they had enough food on the table. He had already dropped Benny's share at his house, knowing his friend would still be up to get the game inside before anyone could see. Dean knew he had to be careful on the street, never knowing which Peacekeeper he might run into.

If he wasn't careful and ran into one of the nastier Peacekeepers, and they saw that Dean had game from the forest, not only would Dean get in trouble, but his entire family would be screwed over. If he ran into one of the nicer Peacekeepers, then he'd get a stern warning and would give the Peacekeeper a piece of the game he bagged.

Dean didn't really want to run into any of the Peacekeepers, wanting to keep his family's food source to himself.

The thing that made Dean the most pissed about living in this fucked up world was even with all the tessera that was coming in from Dean adding his name extra times for the reaping, it wasn't enough for his family to live off of. Dean was only 16, and had been applying for tessera for his family ever since he was 12. Even though Sammy was 12 now, he refused to let Sam apply for tessera. He wasn't going to let Sammy increase his chances of going into the Games.

 

It seemed they never had enough meat in the house though, let alone enough food in general, so Dean would hunt with his friend, Benny, in the forest that was technically forbidden from use in District 12, just to make sure his family got enough food.

Dean would be damned if Sammy didn't get enough to eat.

 

When he got back to his house, he saw a candle light flicker from the small living room. He sighed, knowing John was awake, waiting for him. Dean shouldered the game he was carrying and silently crept in the house. Not that it mattered. John would hear him anyway.

He put the game on the kitchen table and walked in the living room, seeing John relaxing on the couch.

"Sir." Dean said, squaring his shoulders. He took a glance at the time. 12:15 and winced.

"Sit." John said, motioning to a chair. Dean moved and sat down. "What were you doing out so late?"

"Retrieving the game that me and Benny couldn't get this afternoon because of the stupid Peacekeepers." Dean answered honestly. There was no point beating around the bush with John Winchester.

John sighed and ran a hand over his tired face. "Do you even realize how dangerous it is if you get caught out there? Especially after curfew?" John asked.

"I do." Dean nodded. "But danger hasn't stopped me from helping our family-"  _Helping Sammy._  "-before, and it won't stop me now." Dean said defiantly. John only sighed again, coughs wracking his body from working in the mines. A wave of anger passed through Dean's body, seeing John like this, but he knew there was no point in saying anything.

"You need me to get you a drink?" Dean chose to say instead.

The coughing subsided as John shook his head. "I'm fine. You need to get to bed. Now. You do realize what day it is, don't you?" John said it almost bitterly.

"How could I forget, Dad?" Dean muttered. "It's _reaping day._ " The words were spat out like venom.

"Go to bed, son." John said.

"Yes, sir." Dean nodded, getting up and going upstairs to the small room that suited as his and Sam's bedroom.

Sam's lanky and awkward body was splayed across his bed. He was going to hit another growth spurt sooner or later. Probably be bigger than Dean himself. But for right now, he was a skinny, lanky, obnoxious kid who Dean was proud to call his brother. Dean settled in the bed by Sam, and started to fall asleep when he heard Sam shift around in his bed.

"Dean?" Sam mumbled tiredly. "Dean, is that you?"

"It's me, Sammy." Dean said, watching his brother blink tiredly.

"Why did you come back so late? I tried to stay up for you but..." Sam mumbled. Dean cut him off.

"Just finishing up some business, Sammy." Dean said softly. "But I'm here now. Go to sleep, Sam."

Sam only nodded and his eyes shut again. Dean sighed tiredly and soon fell asleep, as well.

 

The two boys woke up later that morning to Mary’s light shaking. “Wake up.” She murmured. “Sam, Dean. Wake up.”

Dean was the first one to rise. Blinking the tiredness out of his eyes, he looked up at Mary and gave a soft smile. “It’s gonna be OK, Mom.” Dean said. He turned to the sleeping form of Sam and roughly shook him awake. “Wake up, Sammy!” He exclaimed. “It’s a big day.” He was trying to make light of what was really happening today. How terrifying today actually was.

What was even more terrifying was that it was Sam’s first reaping that he had to participate in.

Sam jerked awake and looked at Mary, then Dean. “Give me a heart attack, why don’t you?” Sam muttered, getting up from his bed.

“You two get dressed.” Mary said. “I’m making some breakfast downstairs.” Mary left the room and Sam and Dean started getting ready for Reaping Day.

Once they were dressed somewhat nicely, Sam and Dean left downstairs to see Mary at the stove, cooking some of the game that Dean had caught from the night before.

“We have meat? Where did we get that from?” Sam asked. He never knew about the little hunting trips that he took with Benny. Otherwise, he’d want to come along with them, and Dean didn’t need that. One: Sam would scare all of the game from not being quiet. And two: Another person meant that they had to be even stealthier when they came back from the trips. Dean and Benny were enough.

“It was just left on the doorstep.” Dean lied smoothly. He knew Mary hated it when Dean lied about things like this, but the less Sammy knew at the moment, the better.

“Really? Who’d do that?” Sam asked, the wheels in his brain turning.

“No clue, buddy.” Dean shrugged. John walked into the kitchen and looked at his sons up and down.

“Tuck your shirt in, Dean.” John said. _Why bother?_ But Dean did as John requested.

 

After the family had eaten, they left outside to start heading over to the Town Square. They ran into Benny and his family on the way.

“Thanks for dropping off the meat last night.” Benny muttered, once the boys had walked further ahead of their families.

“You would have done the same.” Dean said with a shrug. He kept his eyes forward as they got closer to the Square. He wanted the Reaping to be over with. All that was going to happen was some poor Joe and Jane would get picked, they would leave, and they would die in the Games. It was the same thing every year in District 12, so why would this year be any different?

Once Sam, Dean, and Benny got to the Square and had proven who they were, they were herded into the boy’s side of the holding pens for possible tributes. Dean kept a hand latched on Sam the entire time, glaring at any official who looked at them funny. Just because this was required every goddamned year didn’t mean that Dean had to look like he enjoyed it.

When the Square finally filled, the beginning of the ceremony began, talking about life before Panem, District 13 being blown up by nukes, and what started the Games. It was the same shit every year, so Dean zoned out, looking around at all of the faces, seeing friends like Jo, Ash, and Garth. He then glanced at his parents in the crowd.

John caught his glance and gave a hopeful smile. Dean returned it and faced the large stage that they put out every year for the Reaping.

On it stood Mayor Shurley, talking about the Reaping. Also on the stage, stood the only victor of the Games from District 12, Castiel Novak. He’d won the Games when he was seventeen, due to pure wit and luck. Now he was in his mid 30’s, and tend to keep to himself.

Castiel’s piercing blue eyes roamed around the two pens, looking at all the children who could be the tributes this year. He put a bottle to his lips and drank whatever the contents were, slightly shaking his head.

Looked like Castiel didn’t want to be here anymore than the next guy. But then, why would you want to be here, when all the tributes from your District die?

“I would like to introduce the escort for District 12, Gabriel Trickster!” Mayor Shurley moved aside for a flamboyant looking man from the Capitol to step on stage.

The Square was dead silent as Gabriel stepped forward with a huge grin.

“Hello, District 12, and welcome to the 74th Annual Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in _your_ favor!” He said gleefully from the stage.

Dean scoffed under his breath and he almost laughed when he heard Benny softly mimic Gabriel’s Capitol accent. Instead, a small twitch of a smile flickered on Dean’s face.

They watched Gabriel walk up to the two huge bowls that were placed on two pedestals. “Girls first.” Gabriel smiled. He plunged his hand into the bowl. Dean zoned out again, not caring unless whoever was going to be picked unless it was a person that he knew.

The name was called and a blond-haired girl went up, tearfully. Yep, no one he knew. It seemed horrible that he didn’t care, but it was hard to care for someone you’ve never met.

“Onto the boys!” Gabriel cried happily, moving over to the bowl with all of the boy’s names. Dean watched his hand submerge into the bowl and he started to zone out again until he heard the name he never thought he would hear before.

“Samuel Winchester!”

 

 _The fuck?_ All of a sudden Sam was ripped away from Dean, which sent him into a panic.

“Sammy!” Dean yelled.

“Dean!” Sam struggled against the Peacekeeper dragging him away, and Dean was struggling against the two Peacekeepers and Benny holding him back from Sam.

“No! Sam! Sammy!” Dean screamed. There was terror in his eyes, and panic was written all over his face. “I volunteer! I volunteer! Sammy! I volunteer!” The words were out before Dean could blink.


	2. Safe and Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has volunteered to take Sammy's place in the Games. He says goodbye to the people he loves and is put on the train to head to the Capitol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so it has been a while since I have actually read the Hunger Games, so some stuff may seem weird, but I'm trying my best (by using the official wikia for The Hunger Games), so hopefully I'm getting things as accurate as possible.

Everything seemed to stop. Everyone was staring at Dean now, it was obvious. He took a glance back at his parents and saw that Mary had completely crumpled against John, sobbing. John had a look set in his face. Fury and hatred for the Capitol. Fear for his children. He even looked a little sick, his face tinged with green. John was comforting Mary, but he refused to look away from Dean.

Dean turned back to the stage where Gabriel was staring in shock, which quickly turned into glee. “My, my. What a turn of events! Come up here, boy!” He motioned.

Sam was put back by Benny, who now had to hold him back. Sam was in tears, screaming for Dean, and struggling to get free. Benny whispered soothing words and Sam’s screaming and thrashing stopped, though he was sobbing uncontrollably.

 

Dean’s face turned into one of pure steel. He pulled out of the grips of the Peacekeepers leading him down to the stage and he walked up the steps with a murderous look on his face. No one was going to keep him separated from his family. No one was going to keep him separated from his baby brother.

“What’s your name, buddy?” Gabriel asked as soon as Dean walked on stage.

“Dean Winchester.” Dean gritted out, refusing to look at Gabriel. Instead, he kept his look on Sam. Sam was sniffling and was being partially cradled in Benny’s arms.

“Winchester?! Is little Samuel your brother?”

“Yeah. Sammy’s my baby brother.” Dean said. His eyesight blurred a little, but he blinked it away. He had to be strong for Sammy, even though he didn’t feel like it and he sure the hell wasn’t going to cry on National TV. The steel look remained on his face as he felt a hand clasp him on the shoulder.

“Well there you have it! Undeniable love for a sibling can stand over everything!” Gabriel said. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to the tributes for the 74th Annual Hunger Games!”

 

If time was moving slowly before, it was moving too quickly now. Dean was stuck in a room, waiting to say his last goodbyes before he was shipped off to get prepped for the Games. The burning feeling in his eyes was still there, but he wouldn’t break down before he left. He couldn’t. _Be strong for Sammy._ Those four words repeated in his head.

First person to show was Benny. He gripped Benny in a tight hug. “Make sure my family is taken care of while I’m gone, or I swear to god when I get back, I’ll kick your ass.” Dean said, staring Benny in the eye.

“You got it, Dean. I know you’d do the same for my family.” Benny promised. “Just don’t get killed out there, dude.” Benny was trying to make light of the situation, but Dean could see he was scared as hell.

“I’m not.” Dean replied. A numb feeling had settled into the pit of his stomach. One that he couldn’t ignore.

Benny and Dean talked until their time was up, with Benny leaving with a promise to show Sam the ropes out in the woods. Then his family came in. _Be strong for Sammy._

“You do good out there, son.” John whispered as he held Dean in one of his rare bear hugs. John was really scared.

“I’m gonna win, Dad.” Dean growled. Mary broke down crying while talking to Dean, and John had to take her out to calm her down. It left Sam with Dean, and Sam’s eyes were red and puffy from his own crying.

“Dean…” Sam whimpered. _Be strong for Sammy._

“Sammy, look at me.” Dean knelt down to he was eye to eye with his brother. “I am going to win those Games. You watch me. I’m gonna win and I’m gonna come back home to you, and Mom, and Dad. I swear. There is nothing on this damn planet that’ll stop me from coming back home. Not even the Capitol. But while I’m gone, you have to be strong, OK?”

Sam nodded, another tear falling down his cheek. Sam quickly wiped it away. _Be strong for Sammy._

“Hey, Sammy. It’s OK to cry. Crying is the only way to get rid of all of those frustrations at times. But you gotta be careful to not let those emotions get the best of you. And you gotta be strong for Mom and Dad, they’re gonna need it. Benny is going to be helping you while I’m gone. He’ll be showing you a few tips and tricks, and hey, maybe in the future you can start hanging out with us when we go on our little adventures.”

Dean knew that after he came back, he wouldn’t be hunting as much. But he didn’t have the heart to tell Sam that. _Be strong for Sammy._

Dean’s words cheered Sam up a little. “I’ll be strong for you Dean. As long as you stay strong for me.” Sam said.

“I promise, Sam.” Dean pulled Sam into a hug and refused to let go until time was up. “Make sure Mom and Dad know I love them! I love you too Sammy!” Dean yelled as he was whisked away from his brother.

_Be strong for Sammy._

 

The train ride was unlike anything that Dean had ever seen before. He was in some dining hall and there were all these rich foods and drinks. Some food Dean had never seen before. For some reason, what attracted Dean the most was the orange juice, which he had been drinking non-stop since they got to the dining car on the train.

“Eat as well.” Came the gruff voice of Castiel. Dean and the other tribute, who was a girl named Jess, turned to see their mentor walk out of one of the cars. “You need to get your strength.” He swayed a little and sat down.

“Are you drunk?” Jess asked.

“A little.” Castiel admitted. “But not enough where I can’t think clearly. You guys need to eat.” He waved a hand to the rich food and the two tributes sat down, putting food on their plates.

Dean began eating, savoring each bite that went into his mouth. It was hard not to shove everything in, but he knew that would make him sick if he did.

He wished that his family could taste this, but then remembered when he came back, that was how they would eat from then on out.

 

As he shoved a strange piece of juicy tender meat into his mouth, he noticed that Castiel was watching him, head cocked to one side. He slightly squinted at him, as if studying him. It was a little unnerving.

“What?” He asked, grease running down his mouth. He wiped it away and looked at Castiel. “What the fuck do you want, Castiel?”

“You can call me Cas, first of all.” Cas said. “Second, why?”

“Why _what_?” Dean asked, clearly confused.

“Why volunteer?” Cas asked. “You may have a better chance than your brother in the Games, but what’s the point?”

 _The fuck was he trying to say?_ “Because he’s my brother.” Dean growled, defensively. “I would do anything for him. And I will not let him die in these twisted fucked up Games.”

“Good.” Cas nodded. _What?_

“What are you getting at, Cas?” Dean asked.

“When we get to the Capitol, you’ll have to do an interview. Keep your brother in mind when you do your whole speech thing. It’ll win the crowd and possibly help your District out more.” Cas said. “But tone down the language, at least during your stay at the Capitol. And don’t say the Games are twisted, even if it is the truth. That’ll get you killed within the first few minutes of the Games.”

“Got it.” Dean muttered. Cas went on, talking about different tricks and hints to use in the Games and different ways to help in the interview, but they were pretty vague. Cas didn’t want to be there. All you had to do was see the look in his eyes.

 

Gabriel joined them, happy and chipper.

“My, my.” He said, eyeing the two tributes. “We have some cuties with us this year.” He looked at Dean. “And I can’t remember a time when someone from District 12 volunteered, let alone for a sibling. You are a special cupcake, aren’t you?” He pinched Dean’s cheek and moved it out of the way in time, as a sharp knife came flying in the general area of Gabriel’s hand.

The knife hit the table with a loud _thunk_.

“What are you doing?!” Gabriel shrieked, wide-eyed and shocked.

“Don’t pinch my cheeks, sweetheart.” Dean said. He gathered some more food on his plate before he got up and left to find an empty car on the train, leaving a wide-eyed Gabriel and Jess, and Cas, who was trying not to burst out laughing.

 

After a few minutes of searching, he found what appeared to be his room. He realized that a few belongings were already in the room, and it almost made the food in his stomach come back up at the thought of Peacekeepers and people from the Capitol in his house.

He found things like one of his few jackets, the pair of boots he owned, a few shirts and a pair of pants, and a picture of his family that was in the pocket of the jacket.

 

From underneath the shirt he was wearing, he pulled out the amulet that was on his neck at all times. The one Sammy gave to him all those years ago. Memories began to flood back as the small horns dug into his palm. Dean put the plate of food down on the bed and he started to stare out the window, watching everything whip by, faster than he’s seen in his entire life.

His vision blurred once again, and this time, he couldn’t stop the stinging tears running down his cheeks. He collapsed on the floor, wanting to be consumed by the think carpet under his feet. Dean knew better than to yell in frustration and fury. That would only alert everyone in the dining car, but he couldn’t help but sob softly, his body shaking as each wave hit him.

He wanted to be home. He wanted to be arguing with John about the mines or hunting, he wanted to be comforted by Mary, maybe try whatever she was making with the game he bagged. He wanted to be with Sammy, cracking jokes and telling him that everything was going to be alright. Have Sammy’s smiling face looking back at him, lit with laughter. Have him looking up to his big brother.

Dean wanted to feel safe.

But he should have known better. Dean should have realized from the moment that he turned 12, and the moment that Sammy turned 12, they were never going to be safe. Not until Dean came back from the Games and Sammy turned 18.

So Dean sobbed. He sobbed for the loss of innocence in his life, the loss of innocence that Sammy was going to go through, the loss of life that would happen in the Games, the loss of everything.

 

He didn’t hear Cas come in the room. The carpet covered Cas’ footsteps, so only when Cas had wrapped him arms around Dean, did Dean know he wasn’t alone.

Dean began struggling in Cas’ arms, still sobbing. “Get the fuck off of me!” Dean managed to get out. “Get off!”

“No.” Cas said calmly. The more Dean struggled, the tighter Cas’ arms got. Dean finally gave up, slumping in Cas’ arms, sobbing louder. “I know…” Cas cradled the boy in his arms. “Life fucking sucks. I know.”


	3. I Don't Want To, But I Have To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Dean's mini-meltdown, he heads back into the dining car to see who he's gonna be up against in the Games. Cas tells Dean why he cares about Jess and Dean, even when he didn't seem to care about anyone else in the past, and gets Dean to promise to think about Sammy during his stay at the Capitol and throughout the Games, or he won't survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! I've really begun to realize how annoying it is to write something like this, especially since it's been a while since I've read THG. But, I swear I am doing my best at it. Sorry if some things seem a little weird or different from the book.  
> All mistakes are my own  
> I don't own Supernatural or THG.

Once Dean had managed to calm down and clear his face from the tears and snot, Cas began to talk to him.

“It’ll probably be a good idea to watch the broadcast of the tributes being picked.” Cas said. “You and Jess need to know who you’re up against.”

Dean sat on his bed for a few silent moments, eating some of the food from his plate. “OK.” He said quietly. Honestly, all Dean wanted to do was take a nap. But that probably wasn’t going to happen for a while.

He got up and began to walk out the door with Cas.

“What’s that you got around your neck?” Cas asked on the way back to the dining car.

“My amulet. Sammy gave it to me one Christmas a while back. It stays on my neck, no matter what. I never go anywhere without it.”

“Interesting. I think we can make sure you keep it during your time in the Games.”

“Make sure? They might take it away?” Dean asked, freezing. One hand shot up to the amulet and his hand wrapped around it tightly.

Cas saw that Dean had stopped walking and he looked back with a sigh. “When the Games were in the early stages of starting, some of the tributes snuck their own weapons into the Capitol and the Games themselves. Needless to say, people got severely injured along with some of the tributes killing themselves, so personal belongings aren’t usually allowed, but seeming how a necklace can’t harm anyone, I think we can let you keep it.”

“Alright.” Dean nodded. “I don’t care if I’m not supposed to, but if they try to take this away from me, someone's gonna get hurt.” Dean said, starting to walk back with Cas. Cas gave a laugh.

“I understand.”

 

They got back in the dining car and saw Jess and Gabriel sitting down, discussing things.

The knife was still wedged in the table. A twitch of a grin appeared on Dean’s face as he retook his place. “How come you haven’t gotten the knife out?” He asked.

“It’s caught in some knots in the table.” Gabriel said unhappily, turning his attention towards Dean. “It’s practically imbedded in there after you tried to slice my hand off.”

“Sweetheart, I wasn’t trying to hurt you, only scare you. If I was trying to hurt you, I wouldn’t have missed.” He said with a smirk. Gabriel seemed to pale a little and continued his conversation with Jess. Cas was sitting on the other side of the table, laughing silently. “So no one can really get this out?”

“Go ahead and try, see if you can. Jess managed to wiggle it around a little but that was it.” Cas said, after he calmed a little.

“Really?” Dean asked, looking over at Jess. She didn’t look like much, but maybe she was tougher than she seemed. “Good for you.” He approved with a small smile. She couldn’t be older than 14.

“Thanks.” She responded, looking over at Dean. Sammy would’ve liked her if they had met, Dean just knew it.

Dean put his attention back to the knife and stood up, balancing himself before gripping the knife tightly. He had dealt with things like this before with hunting. A trap would get snared by some of the undergrowth, a knife would get caught in a tree, or he would get snagged himself.

He’s dealt with it and moved on.

He planted his free hand down on the table, taking a slow breath. He gave three sharp tugs back and forth and the knife became free.

“I don’t know what you guys were complaining about, but that was easy.” Dean shrugged.

“How did you get that out?” Cas asked, obviously interested.

“I don’t know…” Dean asked, kind of creeped out by the intense stare Cas was giving him. His blue eyes seemed to bore into Dean’s green ones. “I just gave it the tugs it needed. I’m pretty skilled with knives, so messing with this one really isn’t different.” Dean was going to keep quiet about the fact that he got these skills was due to the fact that he hunted in the woods. He didn’t care what Cas and Jess would think, but what Gabriel would think, in case Gabriel –accidently or purposely- ratted Dean out.

“That’s helpful.” Cas said. “If either of you guy have any skills that you can show off, do it during your private sessions. It’ll help greatly.” Cas said, seeming to be interested in the tributes now.

 

The TV that was in the car came to life and everyone turned to it, forgetting about the knife. The Capitol logo popped up and the broadcast about the Hunger Games and the tributes began to start.

President Metatron’s face appeared and he starting giving the same speech that Mayor Shurley gave. Dean gave an audible sigh that earned him a glare from Gabriel. Dean only gave a shrug and focused on the TV once the tributes started to be revealed. As always, it started with District 1.

“Bela Talbot!” The voice cried out. The girl who came from the girl’s holding pen had to be in her late teens and she had an obvious smirk on her face as she walked up. Bela had a face that looked like she would kill you in your sleep. Probably would. “Gordon Walker!” He walked forward with the same look Bela had.

By him, Dean heard Jess make a small sound in disgust. Dean chuckled softly and leaned over to whisper,

“You and me both, sweetheart.” For a little bit, Dean thought how unfair it was that some of the other Districts were obviously thriving, while in District 12, people easily died on the streets every day.

Dean’s thoughts went back to the Games as District 2 showed up and revealed the tributes. Some guy named Richard Roman.

“Dick.” Dean barely whispered over to Jess, and got a short laugh from her, which earned a glance from both Gabriel and Cas. A girl no older than 15 then walked up. Her name was Abaddon or something. She had vibrant red hair and the look of a killer.

“Looks like a hot demon.” Jess muttered.

“Won’t argue with you there.” Dean agreed.

And so it went on.

District 3 had Lucifer and Lilith, District 4 had Michael and Jody. District 5 had Zachariah and Naomi, District 6 with Azazel and Ruby. District 7 with Victor and Pamela, District 8 with Alistair and Ava. 9 with Raphael and Missouri. 10 with Kevin and Charlie, and 11 with Uriel and Meg.

Finally, District 12 appeared. It showed Jess walking to the stage, upset and scared. Then they showed Gabriel calling Sam’s name and Sam start to be taken to the stage. Dean’s meltdown happened, ending with him screaming out how he volunteered. Dean took Sam’s place, and the camera caught Sam crying, ending it on Jess, Gabriel, and Dean.

After everything was said and done, the broadcast switched to two adults talking about opinions on the tributes, but Dean was done with everything. He felt like he was going to be sick, the rich food in his stomach was churning.

He abruptly got up and hurried as fast as he dared out of the dining car to his room, where he had remembered seeing a bathroom.

He got to the toilet and everything he had just eaten came back up.

 

Jess came by a little later to make sure he was alright.

“Jess, please go away.” Dean said.

“Dean…”

“GO!” Dean yelled. Jess turned and left, shutting the door behind her.

Dean growled and before he realized what he was doing, he had punched a wall. Repeatedly. He let all of the anger and frustrations out with each punch.

He didn’t want to be here, but he had to. He didn’t want to kill anyone, let alone kids as old as Sammy, but he had to. He didn’t want fight for his life, but he had to.

He prayed that he wasn’t the one to kill Jess. Dean wasn’t sure how he would be able to deal with himself or life back home if he killed the kid from his own District.

Cas soon came in and pinned Dean down and Dean started to yell out every offensive name and every curse word he knew at Cas. Cas remained silent and waited until Dean tired himself out.

Then Cas got up and went to the bathroom, returning with a damp hand towel and began to clean Dean’s bloody knuckles. Dean hadn’t even realized he broke skin.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you care about me and Jess?” Dean asked. “I’ve seen you around the District. You don’t talk to anyone. You don’t mess with anyone. You don’t give two shits about anyone. Why start now?”

“Because I can see you winning this thing.” Cas said. “And that is a feeling that I haven’t felt for 19 years, since I won.” He refused to look away from Dean. “So if there is a sliver of a chance of letting one of you make it out alive in the Games, I’m gonna use it.” Cas growled.

Dean quieted down and nodded. “Sorry.” He muttered, looking away from Cas.

“It’s fine. Just save your energy for training and the Games.” Cas let go of Dean and backed up a few steps. “You need to focus on something other than your anger. Focus on your family, on that brother of yours. Think about what he would be saying to you right now.”

Dean gave a snort of a laugh. “I’m not the big thinker in the family. That’s all Sammy.”

“I don’t care. Think right now. Think about how he would react to you doing this to yourself.” Cas said.

Cas gave Dean a few moments as he thought about what Sam would say if he saw Dean punching the wall. Things like ‘ _Dean, stop!_ ’ and _‘Are you crazy?!’_ came into his mind. He remembered the promise he made to Sammy. He had to be strong for Sammy. That was the only way he would get through the Games alive.

“Are you thinking about it?” Cas asked. Dean nodded. “Good. You can’t lose your cool in the Capitol or in the Games. You’re dead if you do, so start using your head, Dean.” Cas instructed. Dean gave another nod. “Good.” Cas nodded before he turned and left.

Dean sighed and studied his ruined knuckles. It wasn’t anything new. He’s gotten in fist fights with people from school before, so he was used to coming home bloody. But if Cas claimed moves like this would only jeopardize his chances of winning the Games, then he would force himself to stop. He would think of his parents, all his friends, and Sammy. Sammy would be watching the Games every second he could, watching Dean. Praying and hoping he would stay alive. And that is what Dean would do. He wasn’t going to let Sammy down.

 

Dean glanced outside and figured they were getting pretty close to the Capitol by now, so he decided to get grab some sleep before he was whisked off to do whatever for the Games.


	4. Winning The Crowd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has arrived at the Capitol and has met his prep team. He also meets Crowley, who is his and Jess' stylist. Crowley makes sure that Dean and Jess would be known in the Tribute Parade. Sam and Benny start collecting donations to give Dean and Jess a parachute during the Games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in the notes, I have squeezed out as many Supernatural characters that I could. But that also means that all of those people are going to die. How I'll make them all die is going to be an interesting story. but for now, let's focus on the Parade. The next chapter will probably focus on the interview and I have a great idea of who I can use for the interview.

Dean woke with Gabriel screaming in his ear that they were arriving. Instinctively, Dean’s fist shot out and he felt it brush against Gabriel’s nose.

“Don’t do that.” Dean muttered, annoyed, blinking and looking out the window. The Capitol looked bright and shiny. Dean only grumbled under his breath about how ridiculous everything was and left after the miffed Gabriel. “Don’t take it personal, Gabe. I’ll do that to anyone screaming in my ear. My dad learned that the hard way.” Dean said.

Gabriel gave a grumble of a response and Dean shrugged. Cas and Jess joined them and they walked of the train and into the Capitol.

They were immediately whisked off to start prepping.

 

There was the huge parade that went first, then later tonight, it would be the interview.

Dean’s prep team, who consisted of three people named Anna, Balthazar, and Samandriel, dashed around him, stripping him of his clothes and freaking out over the look of him.

Balthazar grabbed for the amulet and Dean quickly dodged him, swiping at Balthazar. “Touch the amulet and lose a hand.” He growled, holding on to it protectively. “This thing is my world, so don’t even think of taking it.”

“Alright. Alright.” Balthazar held his hands up, unnerved. Dean settled and stayed quiet as he got scrubbed and cleaned, cleaner than he’s ever been in years. He was embarrassed that he was stark naked in front of three people, but they seemed to care less, they were so concerned with how dirty Dean was and the fact that he practically had no nails because of how much he bit at them, and his knuckles.

In all honestly, Dean was getting a little annoyed from everything. They were acting like he was a pampered pet, and Dean didn’t care for the treatment. He was practically being groomed, any unwanted hair being removed, and everything else being smoothed out.

“It was so brave of you to volunteer for your brother.” One voice said, Samandriel.

“Yes, you caught the love of many people here.” Anna nodded.

“I did, did I?” Dean asked, with fake enthusiasm. “Joy, oh joy.”

“It is joyous, that’ll help you in the Games. The more people like you here, the better chances you’ll get for sponsors for the Games.”

That interested Dean.

“Really? Sponsors? So I’ll get one of those small silver parachutes that show up from time to time? Just because people here like me?” Dean asked.

“Oh yes.” Balthazar nodded, as he combed Dean’s hair out of the small knots it had. Dean grimaced, but endured it so he could listen to the gossip that his prep team was giving him. “The more people like you…the better off you’ll be.”

Dean was going to keep that little piece of info tucked away.

The three continued to talk about this and that while Dean zoned out, only focusing on anything that may sound helpful.

 

Sam Winchester was in his room, curled up on Dean’s bed, sniffling softly. People had been stopping by the house even since Dean left, offering condolences to the family. Sam had gotten fed up with everyone and left to his room.

People were still coming and he could hear the quiet chatter from below. Benny promised to show up in a little bit.

A knock came from the door. “Sam?” Benny’s voice asked, hesitantly.

_Speak of the devil…_

“Come on in.” Sam’s voice said. He didn’t move from the bed as he heard Benny walk in and settle next to him, wrapping his arms around him in a brotherly way.

“How are ya, kiddo?” Benny asked softly.

Sam only shook his head. Benny pressed Sam tighter against him and sighed. “I want all the people to leave.” Sam said. “They make is sound like Dean isn’t going to come back. But Dean’s gonna come back? Right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, Dean’s gonna come back.” Benny said. Truthfully, Benny wasn’t sure about Dean’s chances in the Games, but he knew that with Dean’s willpower and ‘give ‘em hell’ attitude, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“I just want him back.” Sam said with another sniff.

“We all do, kiddo.”

They stayed there, silent for a few minutes until Sam spoke up again.

“I have an idea.” Sam said.

“What’s that?” Benny asked.

“You know how sometimes the tributes get those little parachutes? Dean talked about them a lot when the Games came over the past few years.”

“Yeah, what about the parachutes?” Benny asked.

“Well, maybe we could start doing something to give Dean a parachute, and maybe…” He trailed off hesitantly.

“And maybe what?” Benny asked, interested in Sam’s plan.

“And maybe…we could give one to the other tribute. I think the girl’s family would like that.” Sam said.

Leave it to Sam to always think of others too.

“I think that is a great plan, Sam.” Benny said, pulling Sam up into a sitting position. “How about you and me start going around town right now, to see if we can start collecting donations for two parachutes?”

“Really?” Sam’s eyes lit up hopefully.

“Really, kiddo.” Benny nodded. The two boys stood up and left the room.

 

After Dean had been thoroughly cleaned, he had been sent to a room with Jess. Thank god that the both of them were wearing clothes now.

Inside the room was a shorter man. He had short brown hair and light brown eyes. He was nicely dressed, not completely crazy like everyone else in the Capitol, but there were still things about him that made it obvious that he was a person from the Capitol. His suit, the slight shimmer he seemed to have around his eyes, a few other things, but overall…he looked…normal.

“Name’s Crowley.” He said. He even talked a little different than the people at the Capitol. “You must be Jessica and Dean.”

“That’s us.” Dean nodded.

“Yes…you caused quite a stir over here, volunteering for your brother.” Crowley’s eyes focused on Dean.

“So I’ve heard.” Dean said, awkwardly.

“Well then.” Crowley said, standing up. Dean was a few inches taller than him. He paused looking up at Dean before continuing to talk. “I’m your stylist.” He looked at the both of them. “I’m going to be dressing you for the Parade and the interview tonight. Make sure people remember you two.” He gave a small smile. “And I think that I have the perfect idea.”

 

“We’re practically naked!” Dean grumbled.

“Just wait for the surprise.” Crowley scolded, fixing the coal dust in Dean’ and Jess’ hair. “And besides, you have garments over your junk, so why do you care?”

“Because. We’re. Almost. Naked.” Dean emphasized every word. They were in the area to ride on the chariots for the Parade and Dean was not happy. While all the other tributes looked ridiculous or actually cool, they were fully clothed. The only garments that Dean and Jess had on were ashy black fabric that covered their private areas. The rest of their body had a light covering of a special type of coal dust, according to Crowley.

“It’ll be fine. After the surprise goes into effect, no one will care that you’re practically naked.” Crowley insisted.

“Fine. But it better work.” Dean muttered.

Soon, Crowley had to go and the Parade started.

 

Sam, Mary, and John gathered around the TV, anxiously waiting for the Parade to start.

Like always, District 12 would be last.

“Did you have a good time out with Benny?” Mary asked.

“Yes.” Sam nodded. They had gone around collecting donations for Dean and the girl tribute, whose name was Jess. Sam wished that he had gotten to know her. She looked nice, and she was pretty.

“Are you going to tell us what you and Benny did?” John asked.

“No. It’s a surprise.” Sam shook his head. Everywhere they went, they asked for it to stay quiet around the Winchester and Moore parents. “Once it’s done, we’ll tell you.” Sam smiled.

“If you insist.” John shrugged. The Capitol symbol went up and all of the attention went to the screen.

District 1 emerged.

 

On and on it went, District 1, then 2, and so on.

Finally it was Dean’s and Jess’ turn to emerge. The sun was starting to set and Dean sighed, rolling his eyes a little as the horse-pulled chariot exited the holding area.

Dean awkwardly stood on the chariot as he waited for the ‘surprise’ Crowley had promised to happen.

For the first few seconds, Dean was scared it wouldn’t, but then he felt a tingling starting with his feet.

Confused, he looked down. His eyes grew as he saw the surprise start to work.

 

Sam’s eyes grew as he saw his almost stark naked brother on the TV. This was even worse than watching the Reaping.

Mary gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth and John’s jaw dropped.

Then Sam gasped in wonder as he saw some special effect emerging around Dean and Jess.

 

It was fire. Fake fire, but fire. Fire was emerging from the feet up. It tingled, and slightly tickled, but it shot up to the two tributes shoulders. Dean eyed Jess and saw it even flickering around in her hair. Dean had a feeling it was doing the same in his own.

The audience was going insane over it. Dean, deciding to get cocky, lifted a hand and gestured towards the audience, letting the fake fire dance and flicker around and partially off his arm.

More cheering happened.

Dean tapped Jess, and she did the same as Dean on the other side of the chariot.

Dean glanced at Crowley and gave a small smile. He was a smart son of a bitch.

 

Once Dean and Jess got to the center with the other tributes, he eyed them. The higher tributes had looks of jealously. The lower ones had looks of awe.

Dean only smiled victoriously. They would be remembered for this.


	5. Interview Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's after the Parade and it's time for the Interviews for the tributes. Crowley has given Dean and Jess another outfit to make them remembered for the Games and Dean pleases the crowd for his interview.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, I know that the Training goes before the interview, but again, I haven't read the book for a while, and I am going off memory of how everything worked. Oh well, I still think this is pretty good. Also, this would have gone up earlier, but I keep having writer's block.

Benny was over at the Winchester’s house as soon as the Parade had finished.

“Benny? Did you see that? Did you see Dean?” Sam asked excitedly. “He was on fire!”

 _Literally._ “Yeah. Whoever is dressing them is smart.” Benny nodded. “They stand a better chance of they’re remembered.”

“Really?” Sam asked, his hazel eyes growing hopefully.

“Really.” Benny nodded.

 

Gabriel wouldn’t shut up about the Parade.

“The way the fire just danced around you, it was amazing!” Gabriel chattered. “And then you started to play with it and with the crowd’s reaction, it was beautiful!” He continued on and on about it.

Right now, Dean, Jess, Cas, Gabriel, and Crowley were eating dinner in the room they would be staying in before the Games started. The interview would be in a few hours, and Dean was a little antsy, not being much of a people person when it came to things like this.

“You guys did brilliantly.” Cas nodded. “You sure left your mark. People will be remembering District 12 for these Games.”

Crowley smirked and ate silently.

“So the interview is next, huh?” Jess asked. Dean could see that she was nervous as well.

“Yep.” Crowley nodded. “I have something for the two of you to wear already, so once you’re done with dinner, I need you to change. Your stuff is over there, Jess.” He pointed to the left side of the room. “You’re on the right.” He motioned to Dean’s room.

 

They finished eating and Dean left to his room, seeing the suit he was going to wear for the interview. It was made out of a red material that was soft and smooth, nothing that he’s ever seen in District 12.

When he put it on, he sighed at the softness. It was almost like wearing pajamas.

Dean walked out of his room and saw that it started to glow a soft red from the light. This was _definitely_ nothing that he’s ever seen in District 12.

Jess came out a few moments later and her dress sparkled and flickered from the bottom up.

“I’ve gotta admit, this fire stuff is pretty sweet.” Dean said, looking from Jess then back to himself.

“Thanks.” Crowley smiled. “You two need to get downstairs. Come on.”

“Thank god that your prep teams fixed your hair after the Parade. One less thing to worry about.” Gabriel sighed, as he chased the two tributes to the elevators.

“Yeah…totally.” Dean muttered.

 

Jess was about to go up for the interview, and she was a nervous wreck behind stage.

“How can I be so nervous? The reason that I’m going up there is so horrible!” She muttered. “Everyone is going to critique me.” She moaned.

“Hey!” Dean said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “You’ll do fine. Just think about your family when you’re up there. Think about all your friends back home. You’re gonna do great.” He pulled her in with a hug. All he could think about was Sammy and how Jess reminded Dean of him. Antsy and on-edge. But if Jess was anything like Sam, then she would pull it together and do great. Sam really would’ve liked her.

The interviewers began talking about the next tribute and Jess’ name was called.

Jess took a shaky breath and went up to the stage.

 

Finally, it was Dean’s turn.

He watched Jess step down from the stage and to the back, where he had been waiting for the past three minutes.

She gave him a hopeful smile and a thumbs-up. He nodded and when he heard his name, he walked on stage.

He looked out to the audience and gave a dazzling smile. He heard some people in the audience gasp at him and he looked down in confusion, then remembered what he was wearing.

The suit that Crowley had put him in was glowing again, ember red. Only this time, at every movement Dean did, small fake fires would flick of his suit. Because the light was stronger here than in the room, the suits reaction was stronger.

“Dean Winchester, everyone!” A voice called out behind him. He turned to the interviewers and saw two men sitting there. Their names were Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler, if Dean remembered correctly.

“Come, sit down.” The one with glasses, Ed, said, and motioned to the empty seat.

Dean turned and the audience gasped and cheered. More fire must have flicked off of him. Dean smiled and walked over to the chair before spinning extravagantly. He may have not grown up with a life like this, but Dean knew how to play people. And when he was in a room full of idiots, like the people at the Capitol, he could play them like a fiddle.

“My, your stylist is something.” The other man, Harry, said.

“He is.” Dean nodded. “He’s good at his work.” He could see Crowley out in the audience and Dean gave a dazzling smile. “And for that, I’m thankful.” It was true, he was grateful Crowley would make him be remembered.

The audience soaked up his words, and Dean was doing everything he could not to completely burst out laughing.

“So, District 12, huh?” Ed asked. “It was so brave of you to take your brother’s place.”

“No. It wasn’t brave.” Dean said immediately, looking over at Ed and Harry. “I don’t think it’s brave. It was me looking out for Sammy. I would do anything to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

“And that includes risking your life in the Games.” Harry said.

“Especially that.” Dean nodded. “If Sam can get anything like a normal life, I’m gonna make sure that happens.”

The audience was entranced by what Dean was saying. They were watching him intently and Dean flashed them another smile. They lost it.

“Do you have anyone that you love back home?” Harry asked.

“Me? No.” Dean scoffed.

“Really? No one?” Harry asked.

“No.” Dean shrugged. “Never really had time for someone.” _With hunting, gambling to make sure they had money, helping take care of the family and Sammy…_ “Besides I have my family and friends, so I don’t see the point of one right now. Maybe when I get back home…”

“You believe you’re going to win the Games?” Ed asked.

“I don’t believe it. I know it.” Dean said firmly.

“Unbelievable!” Ed said, amazed and impressed. “I don’t think we’ve had a kid from District 12 with your spunk in a while.”

“So I’ve heard.” Dean nodded. “I guess I’ve learned to embrace it.” He shrugged with a laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the fire flicker off his shoulder and he smiled again.

He was going to have this audience hanging by the edge of their seats for the next few minutes.

 

Once Dean’s time was up on stage, he got some applauds. He waved and blew a kiss out to the audience which made them go crazier. He spun once before he walked off the stage.

Once he was off, the smile on his face left and he made a disgusted noise. “How can people be so stupid?” He rolled his eyes as he walked over to where Jess and Cas were waiting. “Where’s Gabe?” He asked, looking around.

“Probably talking to Crowley about his genius.” Cas sighed. “Let’s just get you guys back to the apartment. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. And remember, any special tricks you have, show them off during your private sessions.” Cas said.

They walked back to their apartment and as soon as Dean stepped in, he left to his room, stripping out of the suit and tossing it aside. He had played the audience and the interviewers like he wanted, but he left feeling dead inside from talking about Sammy and life back home.

He longed to be back home so badly, it hurt. That ache would help him get through the Games. His ache for his parent. His ache for Sammy.

He had to survive the Games. He couldn’t leave Sammy alone.

Dean sighed, tired. Had it really only been one day? It’s felt like a week.

He walked into the bathroom, deciding to get a quick shower before going to bed, but gave up when he saw the numerous knobs and dials on the shower.

Dean flopped on the humongous bed and fell asleep, thinking of life back home and Sammy.

 

Sam was lying on his bed, thinking about Dean and how he looked during the interview. He had watched his brother carefully. He was all smiles and laughter on the outside, but, on the inside…Dean was hurting. And hurting badly.

Sam could see it in his eyes.

But through all the pain and sorrow Dean was feeling, he had volunteered for Sam because he was going to protect him. He was doing it so Sam would have a chance to have a normal life. Or as normal as he could get.

Sam closed his eyes, but it didn’t stop the tears. In just a few days, Dean would be in the Arena, fighting for his life. Fighting for Sam.

A choked sob escaped Sam’s lips as he curled up into a ball.

He wanted Dean back home probably as much as Dean wanted to be home.

There were only two things that gave Sam faith of Dean’s return home from the Games. One: his promise. Two: the fact that he could glimpse the amulet under his suit.

 

Dean woke up to his prep team in his room.

“THE FUCK!?” Dean shouted, startled. “What the fuck are you guys doing in here?!!”

His prep team jumped, startled from Dean’s outburst.

“We were trying to figure out who should wake you up.” Anna said. “Samandriel tried a little bit ago, but you screamed at him and fell back asleep.”

Dean glanced at Samandriel and saw his pale face. “Sorry. I’m usually not a morning person.” Dean said, glancing down. “I’m sorry if I scared –and possibly– threatened you.”

Samandriel nodded and some of the color came back to his face.

“But my question still stands. What are you guys doing?” Dean asked.

“We're here to clean you up and get presentable for the Training Center.” Balthazar said.

“I have to be presentable for _that_? All I’m doing is training.” _This is fucking ridiculous._

“There will be cameras for the public training.” Samandriel said. “And you need to look decent for the private session.”

“Fine.” Dean said. This was ridiculous, but he would go along with it.

He got up and groaned, realizing that he had only slept in his boxers.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Dean.” Balthazar said. “We’re gonna have to clean you anyway.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Dean sighed, heading into the bathroom, with his prep team close behind. He hoped that Jess was having an easier time with her prep team.

 

Once Dean had been practically rubbed raw and covered in sweet smelling shit, he left the bathroom to see an outfit on his bed, with the amulet on top of it.

Dean’s hand shot to his throat to see the amulet wasn’t there. He must’ve taken the amulet off by accident when he was removing his clothes from last night.

“Who put these clothes here?” Dean asked, putting the amulet back on and he started to cloth himself.

“Crowley.” Anna said. “The stylist always decided what the tributes get to wear for Training.”

So he saw the amulet and must’ve realized that it was important, and put it with his clothes. He would have to thank Crowley during breakfast for that.

“Alright.” Dean said, pulling up his pants. “Umm…thanks for being…my prep team.” He said, awkwardly. He felt slightly bad that he had yelled at Samandriel. He, unlike Gabriel, probably hadn’t been screaming in his ear, so Dean put the blame on himself. “And…again…sorry for screaming at you.” He eyes Samandriel and tugged his shirt on, then left the room with his prep team close behind him.

“It’s alright.” Samandriel nodded.

“Awesome.” Dean said, seeing Gabriel, Crowley, and Cas chatting at the table. They quieted down when Dean and the prep team came out. “Do you guys…want something to eat or something?”

“We’ve already eaten.” Balthazar said. “We’ll just be on our way.”

“Alright. Bye guys.” Dean waved awkwardly and watched them leave before sitting down with everyone else.

“Thanks for putting the amulet with my stuff.” Dean said, looking at Crowley. “It means a lot.”

“Yes, I’ve heard Cas mention that.” Crowley nodded.

Jess joined them after a little bit and they ate quietly, with the occasional chatter.

 

Finally, it was time for training.


	6. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Jess start their training at the training Center and meet Charlie Bradbury, the young girl from District 10 along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So training was supposed to go before the interview, oh well. I think it still worked out pretty well. I'm really enjoying writing this despite the small things that I get screwed up. The next chapter will be the start of the Games, and the beginning of the deaths for a shit ton of characters.

Dean and Jess stepped into the Training Center and looked around wide eyes.

There were already some of the other tributes there training at the different stations. Dean took a deep breath, realizing that with his statement last night during the interviews, he was going to have some enemies.

He saw a couple cameras zooming around and sighed. This hype for kids killing other kids was completely ridiculous and somewhat sickening.

The Capitol saw this as a fun little game while there were people that Dan knew back home who were struggling to survive day to day and worrying if their child would get picked as tribute. People like Dean’s family.

He walked around, looking at the different stations with Jess.

Walking over to the snares, one of the other tributes bumped into him.

Dean turned back seeing who, and a feeling of dread passed through him as he saw it was the District 1 male tribute, Gordon Walker.

“You got a problem?” Dean asked.

“No.” Gordon gave a small smile. “Cute girl you have there.” He eyed Jess. Dean’s protective mode kicked in.

“Jess, go to snares. I’ll meet you there in a little.”

“Dean…” Jess began

“Go.” Dean said, eyeing Jess retreating to the area he said. “Now, I asked if you had a problem.” Dean said, taking a few steps forward. It was forbidden to fight before getting in the Arena, but if Gordon swung first, Dean wasn’t going to stop where his own fists might ‘accidentally’ land.

“And I said ‘no’.” Gordon took a few paces forward. “So, you think you’re gonna win this?”

“I know it.” Dean said with a smirk. “Try and stop me.”

“I intent to.” Gordon gave a blood-curdling smile that would probably make a smart person back off. Guess it was good that Dean wasn’t smart half the time. “I saw that little brother of yours on the TV. Shame he couldn’t be here right now. I would’ve peeled the skin off of his scrawny ass first chance I could get.”

Anger flared through Dean. “I’m gonna enjoy killing you in the Arena.” Dean gave a blood-curdling smile of his own. He was in this too deep now to back out, so he didn’t care. “You’re mine.” He growled before backing off to head over to Jess.

 

Slowly, all the tributes showed up, and Dean carefully eyed each one of them, watching to see how they worked and moved.

“Dean…” Jess said, grabbing his attention.

“What?” He asked, looking up from the snare he was making.

“If you look, you’ll scare her, but we are being watched at the moment.”

“By who?” Dean asked, continuing to work on his snare and helping Jess with hers.

“The girl from District 10. What was her name? Charlie?”

“Yeah, Charlie.” Dean nodded, finishing his snare and starting to really focus on helping Jess. “No, Jess. Don’t put the rope there. That’ll get your hand trapped.” Dean said, looking up at Jess.

In the background, secretly, he watched the young girl, Charlie, watch them.

“Move it right here.” He looked back down and helped her maneuver the rope to tie the snare together. “If something or someone steps in this, they’re caught.”

“I see.” Jess nodded. “Yeah, I get it.” She smiled. Dean felt his heart clench as he watched Jess smile. Fuck, did he not want to be here. He didn’t want to see Jess die.

He could see Charlie still watching them, and he gave a small chuckle. “You need something, sweetheart?” He asked louder, alerting Charlie that they were aware of her presence.

 

She looked wide-eyed at them and took a few hesitant steps forward.

Charlie was a scrawny kid, probably twelve, like Sammy.

“You enjoy watching us?” Dean asked, looking over at Charlie.

She opened her mouth and shut it, then opened it again. “I…I didn’t mean to spy.” She said.

“It’s fine.” Dean shrugged. “Come on. You wanna learn how to make a snare?” He asked.

Charlie looked hesitantly from Jess to Dean.

“He’s really good at it.” Jess said.

Charlie gave a small smile and walked over to the, willing to learn.

“How are you so good at snares?” Jess asked.

Dean looked up and around, seeing where the cameras were and if the Trainer for this area was paying attention. Deeming it safe, Dean spoke.

“The forest that’s outside of District 12.” He said, still quietly, so only Charlie and Jess would hear.

“The forest is forbidden!” Jess muttered.

“So?” Dean shrugged. “I do what I have to, to survive.”

“I understand that.” Charlie said. “I see people back home do whatever they can to make sure they have enough to live day to day. I guess it’s the same in your District too?”

“Yeah.” Dean nodded. “It’s not completely horrible, but there are some days that it just fucking sucks to live in 12.”

“I feel the same about 10.” Charlie nodded. It was scary to see how much understanding there was in Charlie’s eyes.

“District 10 is livestock, right?” Jess asked.

“Right.” She nodded with a small smile. “Though that probably won’t help much for the Arena.”

“Hey, you don’t know that.” Dean said. “What did your family do?”

“Farming. Had a pretty nice one compared to others, too.” Charlie said.

“Farming? Alright, what have you learned from farming?” Dean asked.

 

Dean, Jess, and Charlie stuck pretty close together throughout Training, teaching each other different things they knew.

Dean taught Jess and Charlie about different snares and knots.  Even though he kept away from the knives section, seeing the tributes that were obviously forming the ‘Career’ group, he taught Jess and Charlie how to use a knife or something knife-like if they could get their hands on one.

Jess taught Dean and Charlie how to make a fire without using much smoke, something Dean could never figure out how to do himself.

Charlie taught Dean and Jess about edible plants, using examples from the things they would feed the animals back home. She also told them how to make a hammock out of the things they found around them in nature.

“How do you know how to make a hammock?” Dean asked.

“I like sleeping under the stars.” Charlie admitted with a shy smile. “So my dad taught me.”

“That’s really cool.” Dean smiled without realizing it. Charlie was now another person on his list that he didn’t want to personally kill. But he knew that he was going to try to protect them until the day they died, which was something that he really didn’t want to think of.

 

Training ended and the tributes were gathered into a room to eat lunch before private sessions began.

Jess and Dean ate side by side while he kept an eye on Charlie talking to the other person from her District. Kevin, his name was.

Dean didn’t mind her teaching Kevin what she learned from Jess and Dean. Kevin was just another kid. And Dean was positive that he could easily outwit and over-power Kevin if the time came for it.

Dean also took note that the Careers kept watching him.

 _Shit._ He was going to have to keep careful in the Arena.

 

After lunch, the time came to begin private session. This would be the only chance to impress the higher powers of the Capitol. Then for the next two days, they would just be training in the Center.

One by one, tribute after tribute went in for their private session.

In the end, Jess and Dean were waiting with each other for their turn.

When it was Dean’s turn to finally go in, he took a deep breath before giving a half-smile to Jess.

“Good luck.” She said.

“Thanks.” Dean nodded. He walked in the room and looked around at the different things to use. Then he looked up at the over-head room to see the people from the Capitol not even paying attention to him. “Great.” Dean muttered.

 

Throughout all of Dean’s time, he tried various ways to grab his audience’s attention, but nothing was working.

“Fucking morons.” Dean breathed out, grabbing a knife that he had just tossed perfectly into a dummy. He was getting fed up with the damn Capitol and the idiots that lived there.

He spun around to the over-head room and backed up. They were chatting and laughing about something. Dean couldn’t care let what about. He aimed the knife and threw.

 

It landed with a _squish_  in the eye of whatever animal they were eating. Everyone stopped and turned to face Dean with a wide-eyed, shocked expression.

“Oh, now I have your attention.” Dean said with mock surprise. “Too late for that. You guys missed everything that I just dished out.” He said, motioning to everything around him. “Which is a damn shame. Excuse me.” He turned and left the room without being advised.

Jess watched him confused with wide eyes.

“Good luck sweetheart. You should have their attention.” Dean said walking back to the apartment.

 

After everything was said and done and Jess came back from her private session, Gabriel came in, blazing with anger, asking why Dean had left early from his session.

“Cause they wouldn’t pay attention to me.” Dean shrugged. “So I threw a knife in the animal they were eating, hit square in the eye by the way, and left.” He shrugged.

Gabriel’s face paled.

“What?” Dean asked.

“Do you realize that you may have ruined your chances at a good score?” Gabriel shrieked.

“Gabe, calm down.” Dean scoffed.

“Calm down? Calm down! How!?” He yelled.

“By taking a deep breath.” Cas said, looking at Gabriel like he was a mad man.

Gabriel said something completely unintelligible and left the room.

“Did you seriously throw a knife at them?” Cas asked, mouth twitching into a smile.

“Yeah. Screw them not paying attention just because we’re from 12.” Dean scoffed. “Did they pay any attention to you?” He asked, turning to Jess.

She nodded. “Yeah. I think you may have helped me with my score.”

“I hope so.” Dean smiled.

 

Gabriel came back a little while later, significantly calmer. “I…am sorry…for my outburst.”

“Apology accepted.” Cas said. He looked over at Dean expectantly and raised an eyebrow.

If it had been just him and Cas, he would have argued, but instead, he sucked it up and looked at Gabriel.

“I’m sorry about upsetting you.” He said with fake pleasantness plastered all over his face. Cas only rolled his eyes, but Gabriel sucked it in.

“Oh, thank you!” Gabriel said, happier now. “Just work hard during Training.” He said firmly.

_Sweetheart, I’m gonna do what I fucking want during Training._

Cas was giving him another look to make sure he didn’t say anything out of turn and Dean held his hands up in defense.

“I’m gonna figure out all those knobs and dials, and then get a nice long shower.” Dean said getting up and leaving the room, wanting some peace and quiet. Something that he wouldn’t truly get until he got back home.

 

The next two days were similar to the first one, with Dean, Jess, and sometimes, Charlie went to different sections honing their skills.

Dean also was starting to be harassed by not only Gordon, but Bela and District Three’s girl tribute.

“You’re gonna die screaming.” Bela promised in his ear.

“Oh really?” Dean said completely sarcastically. “I had no idea. I’m gonna try and make sure to hold my end of the bargain. Don’t want to disappoint anyone.” Dean imitated Sammy’s puppy look. “Anyway. I’m out of here. Buh-bye.” Dean turned and left with Jess.

 

When Training was almost done for the day, Dean saw some of the Careers running the course for the Gauntlet.

He watched Gordon finish his run and look at his time, obviously proud with it.

“Is that the best you can do?” Dean taunted from the snares section. “Wow. So impressive.”

“Dean…” Jess warned under her breath. Dean was going to regret this, he knew. But right now he didn’t care.

“What? Can you do better, 12?” Gordon asked.

“I know it.” Dean scoffed. Living where he did, and hunting in the woods made him fast. He got up and walked over to the Gauntlet and stood at the starting point, quickly scanning the area before starting.

 

Dean dodged and ducked all the obstacles the Gauntlet had, and when he emerged from it, he grinned, looking at his time.

He was ten seconds faster than Gordon.

“Told you.” Dean shrugged and walked away, back to the grinning Jess.

 

“I totally owned the District 1 tribute on the Gauntlet.” Dean said back in the apartment.

“Really?” Cas asked interested.

“I was faster than him by ten second. God, you should have seen his face.” Dean laughed.

“You need to be careful, Dean.” Cas said, slightly frowning. “Having the Careers wanting to target you first thing is not good.”

Dean quieted down and nodded, seeing Gabriel walking in.

“Scores are being revealed today.” He sang.

_Fun fun._

The four of them anxiously awaited around the TV for the day’s turn out from training to start and finally the scores.

The Capitol logo came up, and it started.

 

Benny was at the Winchester’s house again. He had been out with Sammy collecting more donations. Depending on the scores that Dean and Jess got would be the deciding factor on if they were going to get enough donations.

“It’s starting!” Sam said. For the past three days, Sam had been watching anything they were airing from the Capitol adamantly, watching Dean’s every move.

The highlights of the tributes last few days of Training showed up and Benny sighed. It was the same old stuff, but at the end, it showed something he wasn’t expecting.

Dean was running the obstacle course they had in the Training Center. And he was good. Benny was recognizing some of the tricks Dean did when they hunted.

When Dean landed back on the ground, he looked at his score, then walked off with a huge smirk on his face.

Of course. Dean was proving himself.

Sammy’s face was radiating with joy over his big brother and Benny wrapped an arm around Sam, pulling him in a side-hug.

“He’s gonna do fine in the Games.” Benny said. Then the scores started.

 

It finally got to District 12. Dean was practically jumping in his seat. Crowley had joined them, watchingw with anticipation.

“From District 12, Dean Winchester.” Ed’s voice said. “With a score of…” He looked down at the paper, then up to the camera. “Ten.”

Cheering erupted around him. Dean felt a smile spread on his face and turned to Cas, who gave him a thumbs-up.

“And finally, from District 12, Jessica Moore.” Harry said. The room quieted again and they turned to watch the screen. “With a score of…” He paused, then looked up to the camera. “Eight.”

Jess smiled proudly.

“Well, that’s it. We have to celebrate.” Crowley said, getting up.

“You two got some great scores, especially coming from District 12. So let’s have some fun.” Cas winked.

Dean’s smile grew bigger as he got up with Jess. Seeing his score on the screen, he finally felt like he really had a chance to win the Games.


	7. Game Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the Games to begin....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have the next chapter up! Woo! I've been so busy lately (and today is my mom's birthday), so I've never had a good chance to post it. But here it is.

Everyone seemed to be alive for the first time in District 12. Tributes from District 12 haven’t gotten as good of scores that Dean and Jess have gotten in a while.

Benny and Sam were out, eagerly collecting donations to send Jess and Dean a parachute during the Games.

Sam beamed during the whole thing.

 

Dean had probably one solid hour of sleep that night. He was thinking of the Games, what the Arena might look like, his family back home. His mind was racing at 100 miles an hour.

He gripped the amulet in his hand and sighed, thinking of Sammy.

Dean closed his eyes and drifted in and out of sleep.

 

It was chaos as Dean Dean got ready the next day, and it felt like there as a lump in the pit of his stomach.

Today was the day.

Today was the day that he was going in the Arena, and he had to make it out. He couldn’t leave Sammy all alone.

He got dressed quckly and left to meet Jess and Cas in the main room.

“Remember.” Cas said, gripping each tribute. “Use anything you can to your advantage. Don’t forget to use your wits. If you don’t, you can kiss your ass goodbye.” He looked from Dean to Jess. “I know that only one person can make it out alive, but keep an eye out for each other. Alright?” Cas asked.

Dean nodded solemnly and glanced at Jess. She was shaking, so Dean grabbed her hand and they were led out and up to the roof of the building they were staying at.

Dean and Jess walked on board and got strapped in. Dean looked around and saw some of the other tributes. Charlie looked over at them and gave a small smile, which Dean and Jess both returned.

As the rest of the tributes came, they were injected with what looked like a tracker.

Dean hissed in pain as the tracker was injected into his arm, and he held onto Jess as she was injected.

Then they were off.

 

Sam had been up since the crack of dawn. How could he sleep? How could anyone sleep? Today was the day the Games began. And that thought alone was scary.

The fact that he was going to see Dean on screen, possibly killing other kids, was terrifying.

Sam sat with Benny on the couch, shaking with fear and anticipation.

“It’s gonna be OK.” Benny soothed by him. “Dean’s gonna come back home.”

Sam only nodded and pressed into the comfort of Benny. Benny sighed and wrapped his arms around his best friend’s little brother. The next few weeks were going to be long ones.

 

The tributes were led to separate tubes, ones that would bring them up to the Arena.

Dean shivered, multiple emotions running through him. He thought about Sammy. God, if he thought his emotions were running high now, Sammy must’ve been exploding back home.

Suddenly, Crowley entered the room, holding the amulet. “You say you love this so much, yet you magically keep on losing it.” Crowley said. He handed Dean the amulet and Dean put it on gratefully.

“Thank you, Crowley. And…thanks for everything.”

“No problem, Squirrel.” Crowley winked, walking out of the room.

_Squirrel? Where the fuck did he get that name from?_

Dean jerked a little as his platform began to rise.

His heart beat quickened. His breathing became faster. He was starting to become on-edge.

The Games were about to start.

 

He rose and looked around him. The Cornucopia was in the middle of a big grassy ring, and all around them was forest. This…Dean could deal with. He’s had enough experience from being out in the woods in District 12.

The countdown started.

10…9…8…

Dean looked around him and saw Jess staring at him.

 _Stay safe._ He mouthed to her. She gave a slight nod and motioned to the woods to her left. He gave a slight nod and turned to face the Cornucopia.

4…3…2…1.

Then they were released.

 

Dean ran like a mad man towards the Cornucopia, while Jess ran to the woods. He would grab something for the two of them, then disappear in the trees.

He eyed Gordon and someone else chasing after him.

_Shit. Shitshitshit._

Dean willed himself to run faster and he swiftly grabbed two packs and dashed off into the woods.

All around him was yelling and screaming, but he ignored it, imagining Sammy was the one in the woods, the one he had to protect. The one he had to keep safe.

Gordon leapt at him and he kicked him square in the balls. Gordon crumpled to the ground, and Dean ran faster, wanting to get away from the Bloodbath.

 

Once he was in the woods and away from the fighting, he began looking for Jess.

“Jess.” He whispered loudly. “Jess, where the fuck are you?” He called, looking around. “Jess!”

A small acorn dropped on his head and he looked up, confused.

Jess’ face grinned down at him and she threw another acorn. Dean smiled and held up the two packs.

“I have no idea what the hell is in them, but let’s hope it’ll help. Now, get down from there and let’s get to somewhere safe.”

“Alright.” Jess nodded and began to climb down.

 

After a few moments, Dean and Jess heard the cannons that meant the beginning count of how many died in the Bloodbath.

One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six…Seven…Eight.

Eight kids died.

There were still 16 kids left. That meant 15 more kids would die. Dean looked over at Jess, and gripped her tightly. He was going to defend Jess with his life.

 

Sam was sick and in the bathroom before the Bloodbath was over. Mary was over him, rubbing his back and trying to sooth her youngest son, who was retching and crying over the toilet.

He had seen Dean grab some packs and run after Jess in the woods, and then left to throw up what little he had eaten for breakfast.

Everything that he had just seen in the Arena was horrible. The way some of the other tributes just mercilessly killed tributes was more horrifying than how Sam originally expected.

“Sam? Sammy, are you going to be OK?” Mary asked gently, leaning down and pressing herself behind her son.

Sam caught his breath and pulled away from the toilet, shakily. “Yeah, Mom. I’ll be alright.” He nodded. He remembered the promise to be strong for his parents. He stood up and went to the sink to wash his mouth out. “I’m OK.”

 

Dean and Jess had settled by a small stream.

“Why don’t we go further down it?” Jess asked.

“Because the Careers will set up base there and around the Cornucopia.” Dean said. He’s seen enough of these damn Games to know how the Careers will work. “Remember what Cas said?” Dean asked. “We need to keep our wits about us.” Jess nodded seriously. “That means you always need to be aware of your surroundings.” Dean instructed, opening the packs and seeing what was in them.

“What do we have?” Jess asked.

“Some camping stuff. And a small knife!” Dean pulled it out and gave it to Jess immediately.

“Dean, you know more about knives than me.” Jess argued.

“No. Keep it. You need something to defend yourself. I know how to fight. Do you?” Dean asked.

“Not really.” Jess shook her head.

“Then you get the knife.” He said. He pulled out two canteens. “We’ll be able to carry water.” Dean said, submerging the canteens in the stream, and filling them.

He put the tops on and gave one of the canteens to Jess. She took a drink and sighed, looking around.

“What do we do now, Dean?” She asked.

“We hunt for some food and stay alive.” Dean said.

 

Dean and Jess had settled the packs and their things in the trees, knowing that they would have a good advantage there.

Dean made it a personal mission to teach Jess how to use the knife properly.

“What do you think is happening back home?” Jess asked.

“I don’t know. Our parents are probably happy we survived the Bloodbath.” Dean said.

“Yeah, probaly.” Jess nodded. She grew quiet, fiddling with the knife before her head shot up.

“Jess?” Dean whispered confused. Jess pressed a finger to her lips and listened. Dean listened as well and hear the snap of tree branches and talking. His eyes grew wide. _The Careers._ He mouthed. Jess nodded and stilled on the branch she was sitting on.

Dean looked down below as the voices got louder. They were laughing. And he could hear that Gordon was the leader of the pack.

"God, did you see how they squealed when we got them?” Gordon laughed. “Fucking weaklings. But I’m telling you…” His voice became serious. “…that fucking guy from 12…is mine. Any of you see him, you get me. You kill him, I kill you.”

Jess looked over at Dean with wide eyes. Dean made a motion to stay quiet.

“What about the girl?” Another voice asked. It was male, and Dean didn’t recognize it.

“Do whatever you want. I couldn’t give two shits about her. But…the boy is mine.”

Jess’ eyes grew fearfully and she started to make herself as small as possible. Dean reached for her and gripped her arm.

 _I won’t let them get you._ Dean mouthed.

Jess only nodded.

“Do you really think that some of the other tributes are around here?” That voice was Bela.

“Of course.” Gordon scoffed. He said something else, but it was unintelligible, due to them leaving.

Once all sounds of them left, Dean and Jess climbed down the tree with their stuff.

“We’re getting out of here. Now.” Dean muttered. They took off in the opposite way to get as much distance from the Careers.

 

Dean and Jess had managed to stay hidden for the rest of the first day in the Arena, and now it was growing dark.

Jess had magically made a fire and they were cooking a rabbit they had managed to catch.

“Do you think Charlie is still alive?” Jess asked.

“I hope so.” Dean nodded, taking a bite of rabbit. It reminded him of home, and he had to force the piece of food down his throat. “But I guess we’ll find out soon.” He said motioning to the sky.

The faces of the ones who died always showed in the sky at the end of each day.

Almost on cue, the faces showed.

No one from the first three Districts died.

“Great, that’s going to make our lives harder.” Dean sighed, looking up at the sky. The boy from District 4 was killed.

“I think his name was Michael.” Jess said.

“You remember?” Dean asked, a little surprised. He didn’t even remember all the names.

Jess nodded. “I tried to remember them as I saw them coming up for the Reaping. I think it’s only fair that we remember all the kids who lost their lives.” The girl from 4 survived, along with all the tributes from 5, 6 and.

Both tributes from District 7 and 8 popped up. “Victor, Pamela, Alistair, and Ava.” Jess said, seeing each face.

The male from District 9 survived, but the female didn’t. “Missouri.”

Then District 10 came up. Dean held his breath, wondering if Charlie’s face was going to come up. There were still two faces that had to show.

The boy –Kevin– was dead. That was it from District 10.

“She’s alive!” Jess said, happily.

Dean let his breath out in a whoosh. Charlie was still alive. He would need to find her so she could join their small group.

District 11 showed and the girl’s face popped up.

“Meg.” Jess said softly. “That’s it. That’s everyone who died.”

A pit seemed to form inside of Dean. More death would only follow.

“Do you want to start looking for Charlie tomorrow?” Jess asked.

“Yeah. The sooner I know she’s safe, the better I’ll feel.” There were so many things that were in Sammy that Dean was seeing in Jess and Charlie, so naturally, he felt protective over the two girls.

They made him feel a little normal in this fucked up place, and Dean knew that it was going to be that much harder to see them die.


	8. Death By...Monkey?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Jess wake up the next day by the sound of a scream and a cannon fire, then get chased by the Careers. Luckily, Charlie comes in to save the day.

Dean and Jess had gone to bed in the trees, keeping away from the ground in case anyone tried to sneak up on them.

A loud scream pierced through the forest that woke Dean and Jess in an instant. Then a cannon was heard.

“Who do you think it was?” Jess asked fearfully.

“I don’t know, but it was way too close for comfort.” Dean said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

They packed all their things and hit the ground running.

 

“God, did you see the look on 11’s face when we killed him?” Lucifer laughed as he walked with the other Careers.

They all watched a ship fly overhead and Lilith gave a smirk.

“Going to pick up the dead body now, huh?” She grinned wickedly.

“Shh…” Abaddon put a finger to her lips and looked around. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Did you hear something?” She asked, eyeing the forest around her.

“You’re crazy. There’s nothing there.” Gordon scoffed.

“No, I swear…something’s out there.” Abaddon insisted. She froze, eyeing every single movement she saw. Another faint noise happened. It was too loud to be from an animal. “Told you.” She smiled, heading off in the direction of the noise. “Looks like we need to go make another kill.”

 

Dean and Jess moved as quickly as they dared through the trees, trying not to step on anything that would make too much noise.

That was when Jess landed on a fallen branch.

“Stop.” Dean hissed, listening carefully to the woods around them. His hearing was better than Jess’ and he could hear the faint chatter of the Careers.

“Dean…”

Dean pressed a hand over Jess’ mouth and listened, his breathing slowing. He waited, hearing nothing now. _Shit. Come on…come on, just keep walking._ After what seemed like forever, he couldn’t wait anymore.

 _Be careful._ He mouthed.

Jess nodded and they slowly started to walk off. That was when an animal jumped out of the woods, scaring Jess and making her land flat on her ass. _Shit._

“Run!” Dean ordered in a whisper. He helped Jess get up and they took off, now needing to make distance between them and the Careers, not caring which way they went.

 

Charlie had heard the cannon and had seen the confrontation between all the Careers. Now they were going after someone else. Charlie had a bad feeling about this, but knew she had to follow, so she kept her distance, but ran after the Careers to see who they were chasing now.

 

_Run. Runrunrunurunrun…_

That was all that was going through Dean’s head. He could hear some of the Careers gaining on the two of them, but they were far enough out that they couldn't see Dean or Jess, though they could hear them with the noise they were making.

Jess had a mask of pure terror on her face, and Dean could tell pure adrenaline was running through her at the moment.

Dean kept a hand latched onto Jess as they ran. He wasn’t going to let her go. He wasn’t going to let her die.

“I see them!” Yelled a voice. Bela. “It’s both of the kids from 12!” She howled in glee.

“The. Boy. Is. _Mine_!” Gordon emphasized as he started running faster. He could see far glimpses of the two tributes and he smiled with glee. He was going to have fun killing them.

 

“Oh no.” Charlie whispered as she listened to who the Careers were chasing. She had to do something to help save them. Dean and Jess were the only people, besides Kevin, who cared for her, and Kevin was dead.

She saw a branch to limb on that would take her into the trees. She wasn’t the best climber, but it would give her a better vantage point. She jumped onto the branch and started to run through the trees, praying that she wouldn’t fall.

 

“Dean, they’re gaining!” Jess got out between inhales of breath.

“Climb!” Dean ordered, pointing to a tree. He helped hoist Jess up and started climbing himself just as the Careers caught up to the two tributes.

Dean smiled a small victory smile when he saw that even with the strength that Careers had, none of them could climb the tree, especially like how Dean and Jess could.

“Having a little trouble there, are you?” Dean asked. “Too bad.”

“You’ll have to come down sometime, 12. And when you do…I’m waiting.” Gordon said with a murderous smile. It unsettled Dean a little bit, but he would be damned if he showed it.

He looked around to see if they could escape through more trees, but saw they couldn’t. Not without the risk of one of them falling.

They were trapped.

“Thank god we have some food left over from last night.” Jess muttered.

Dean nodded. He wasn’t able to preserve it completely like how Mary did, but Dean could save some of the food they had made from last night.

“You should eat.” Dean said, pulling out some of the food.

“What about you?” Jess asked, concerned.

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.” Dean said, forcing some of the food in her hands. “Seriously.” He said. “Right now, I’m going to work out how to get us out of here. You worry about your empty stomach.”

“Dean…” She began to argue.

“Jess, eat.” Dean instructed, bring the matter to a close by turning away. Dean thought back on some seasons that their family didn’t have that much food and Dean sacrificed his share to make sure Sammy got fed.

This situation was similar and Dean was going to make sure that Jess wasn’t hungry.

He sighed, watching the Careers settle down and make camp around the tree. They were ready to hang around for a while.

That was when he spotted Charlie in the trees as well.

 

“Charlie. Trees.” Dean barely breathed out. He made a slight motion with his head and Jess eyed the direction Dean was looking.

Sure enough, there was Charlie.

Jess smiled to herself. Maybe they weren’t doomed.

 

Dean glanced down at the Careers and saw them talking amongst themselves, waiting for any major movement from above. He glanced back over at Charlie and smiled, letting her know they saw her.

She smiled back and glanced down at the Careers, keeping an eye on them.

“Jess, can you keep a watch on the Careers?” Dean asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you if the start looking up.” Jess nodded, keeping her gaze on the people below.

Dean turned his attention back towards Charlie and made a slight gesture to the Careers.

_How do we get them to go?_

Charlie smiled and tapped her head knowingly.

_I have a plan._

Dean arched an eyebrow curiously and watched Charlie intently, as she slithered through the trees, obviously trying hard to remain quiet. Dean almost laughed watching her. Charlie was _not_ a climber, she was a farmer.

Charlie scooted closer and closer to Dean’s and Jess’ tree, when Jess carefully grabbed Dean’s arm. Casually, Dean looked away from where Charlie was and then looked down at the Careers.

“Do you need something? Or do you just like to stare at my amazing ass?” Dean asked, calling down to the tributes below. Bela seemed to be actually considering staring at Dean’s ass before masking her face with a growl.

“Make as many joke as you want, 12.” Gordon said. “But you’re time is gonna run out soon.”

“Nah, I’m pretty good up here.” Dean shrugged. “Besides, we have some food, some water, and hey, I can take a piss any time I want. Ladies, shield your eyes.” Dean said as he unzipped his fly and proceeded to urinate down towards the Careers.

The Careers scrambled away until Dean was done taking a piss, covering his privates again and smiling down at the Careers.

“Oops. Maybe I should have given a better warning.”

“Why you little fuck!” Gordon yelled. He tried climbing up the tree again, and failed. “When I get my hands on you…!”

“If you get your hands on me.” Dean corrected. “I’m not ready to come down yet. I don’t think Jess is either, are you Jess?” Dean asked, looking over at the other tribute.

She seemed a little unsettled from the scene that just took place, but rolled it off with a shrug. “I’m good.” She nodded.

“See? We’re both good.” Dean said, losing interest in the Careers and began to look around, keeping an eye on Charlie, who was as close as she could get to Dean and Jess.

Jess watched at the Careers settled back down, eyeing where Dean’s pee had landed disgustingly.

“Sorry about that.” Dean muttered to Jess. “I usually take a morning piss, and I needed to relieve myself.”

“It…it’s fine.” Jess said, keeping an eye on the Careers. "Just don't do it again."

 

Dean looked back up to Charlie.

 _What do you have planned?_ Dean mouthed to Charlie.

 _Watch._ She mouthed back with a smile. Charlie pulled out a small berry, using her shirt to pull it out of her pants. Dean only grew even more confused when he saw the small cherry red berry. Charlie threw it down at the head of the tribute from District 2.

It bounced and rolled off, and Charlie hid quickly.

“What the fuck? Something just hit me.” He said, getting up and moving to find the item.

“What is it?” Gordon asked, looking around, trying to figure what just flew out from the sky.

The District 2 male picked it up and rolled it around in his hand. “It’s nothing, just a fucking berry.” He scoffed. “Some stupid animal must have dropped it.” He said, eyeing it.

He was about to eat it when something harder and heavier hit his head.

 

“What the fuck? Why am I getting things thrown at?” He cried out in pain and turned to see what hit him this time. Only now, a terrifying looking monkey thing growled and hissed at him. Dean watched the boy’s face pale. “The fuck?” He muttered.

Dean watched the monkey shriek at the boy and rip the berry from his hand.

Then it proceeded to attack the boy.

 

“Get it off! Get it off!” The boy shrieked as he tried to defend the attacks from the rabid monkey.  Dean shielded Jess’ eyes from it and he watched in horror as the monkey ripped off pieces of flesh from District 2’s arms and face.

The tribute was jumping all around, and no one could get a clear shot at the thing.

The monkey continued to attack the boy until he stopped screaming. The cannon fired before the boy hit the ground.

“Dick Roman.” Jess whispered as she heard the cannon.

The other Careers ran off, and the monkey went away happily with his berry.

 

“Where the fuck did you find that berry?” Dean yelled to Charlie.

“Last night.” She said, climbing down the tree. “I learned quickly that if you touch the berries, you get hurt.” She said, motioning to her arm.

Dean looked and saw the injury that Charlie had sustained.

“Are you OK?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” Charlie nodded. “Let’s get out of here before the Careers come back.”


	9. Learning New Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, Jess, and Charlie escape from the trees they were held in, and leave to find some new safe place to stay. Dean has a small heart-to-heart moment with the girls and tells them about Mockingjays, while back in District 12, Sam meets Cas.

The group ran away as fast as they could. If the Careers didn’t like them before, they were going to be pissed at them now. They were going to want revenge.

“Thanks for saving our hides back there.” Dean said, once he deemed they were far away enough. “You could have ignored us completely. Let us rot up in the tree.”

“Hey, you two were the only people besides Kevin that actually would care and help me. That makes you guys fine with me in my books.” Charlie smiled.

“Was Kevin nice? Was he a good kid?” Jess asked.

“Yeah. I…I was friends with him back home. He was a great person. Smart. Friendly. Stuck up for his friends when he could.” Charlie said.

“Wow…” Jess said. “I’m sorry.” She looked over at Charlie, sadness in her eyes.

“It’s OK.” Charlie said. “I’m still alive, right?” She gave a small scoff, and Dean wrapped one arm around Charlie’s shoulder and one around Jess.

“Yeah. You’re still alive, Charlie.” He nodded. “I’m going to teach you girls how to hunt properly.” He said. “And we need to find some water source and get ourselves cleaned. “Charlie, are you thirsty?” Dean asked.

“A little…why?” Charlie asked.

Dean handed her his canteen of water. “Drink.” He ordered. “I think dehydration could probably be the worst was to die.”

Either dehydration or starvation. Two things he’s seen plenty of times in District 12.

“Thank you, Dean.” Charlie accepted the canteen and drank from it. “Why do you care about me and Jess? You seem skilled enough that you could kill us and just worry about yourself.”

“Because you two are good people. You deserve a chance in these Games. I mean, look at you, Charlie. You just killed a Career.”

Charlie gave a small wince from the reminder.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant is that you’re smart. If you keep your wits, you survive longer. So that is what we are gonna do.”

They continued walking in the random direction they left in.

 

“I wish you guys could meet my little brother, Sam. He would’ve liked you guys. You two remind me a lot of him. Hell, I feel like you guys are…” He stopped, choking on the words he wanted to say.

“Dean?” Jess asked, worriedly.

“You…you guys feel like family.” Dean murmured out. “Almost like a home away from home during the Games.” He felt the tears slip down before he could stop them and he pulled his arms back to wipe them away. “God, crying on National TV.” He chuckled bitterly. “That’s something I never thought I would do.”

“It’s OK.” Charlie said, as they continued walking. “Who cares? It’s not like they can do anything about it. If you have to cry, then cry. It’s no one’s business but your own. That’s what my dad would say.”

“Your dad sounds like a smart guy.” Dean gave a small smile.

“Thanks.” Charlie said.

“No problem, sweetheart.” Dean said.

 

Sam watched, knowing his own tears were falling down his face. If he thought he missed Dean before, the ache just times itself by 10.

He wanted Dean home. And he wanted him home badly. He didn’t want for him to have to kill anyone in the Games, like how he watched the boy from District 2 die. And Sam knew for a fact that Dean wasn’t going to be the one to kill Jess or Charlie.

But when they died, Sam knew that he was going to get revenge for their deaths.

“Good. Let him.” Sam whispered to himself.

He realized that he was liking Jess and Charlie. He wished that he could have gotten to at least know Jess, seeming how she was from here.

“I’ll get to know her family.” Sam promised.

 

A knock came from the door and in walked Benny.

“He’s watching the Games.” Sam heard John say from the entrance to the room.

Benny walked in and settled himself by Sam.

“Did you see what happened?” Benny asked.

“Yeah.” Sam nodded, as the picture of Jess, Dean, and Charlie left to switch to some of the other tributes and what they were up to.

The Careers were pissed.

“You know, we almost have enough donations to send Jess and Dean something.” Benny said.

Sam’s attention went fully onto Benny. “We do?”

“Almost, we’re 97% there. Do you wanna come out with me and get the last three percent? You don’t have to.” Benny said.

Sam got up and grabbed his jacket. “Mom! Dad! I’m going out with Benny!” Sam called.

“Be safe!” Mary called from the kitchen. “And be home by dinnertime!”

“Alright Mom!” Sam said, leaving the house and heading down the street with Benny.

 

The small group of Dean, Jess, and Charlie had managed to find a tiny creek, and Dean left to keep guard, while Jess and Charlie washed.

They did the same while Dean washed up.

“Do you think that they will show us washing?” Charlie asked, a little freaked.

The idea disturbed Dean, but he didn’t think the people at the Capitol were that sick. “No. Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine.” Dean shrugged off.

They continued walking when they came across a bush full of dark colored berries. These berries Dean had seen before. They were in the woods back home.

“Don’t think about eating those.” Dean said, his alert going up.

“What are they? Jess asked.

“Nightlock. Eat them and…” He snapped his fingers. “Instant death. Come on. Let’s look around for something edible to eat.”

 

The day passed slowly in the Arena. No more deaths happened after Dick’s.

The small group had settled by another creek, bigger than the one they bathed in, and Dean started to set up traps and snares from some of the foliage on and around the ground.

By nightfall, they had caught two birds and another rabbit.

“You’re really good at this.” Charlie complimented.

“Thanks, Charlie. You two are getting good at the snares.” That was a big lie. Both of the girls sucked, but he wasn’t going to say that to their faces.

“Yeah, right.” Jess laughed.

Dean smiled and poked at the fire, silently thanking for Jess’ skills of making fires that would have almost no smoke.

Suddenly, the Capitol symbol showed in the sky.

“Looks like it’s time for us to figure out who died.” Jess said.

Dick’s face from District 2 showed up, and Dean gave Charlie a light pat on the back.

Then the boy from District 11 popped up. Dean looked over at Jess to see what the boy’s name was.

“Uriel.” Jess said. “Dick and Uriel died today.”

“You know their names?” Charlie asked.

“I remember everyone’s names.” Jess said. “I think it means more if we know who died.”

Charlie nodded, and looked around at the black. All that the three could hear were the crickets chirping away in the night.

Then Dean heard a soft sound from the trees. A bird tune. He smiled, knowing what it was.

 

“What?” Charlie asked. “What bird is that singing?”

“It’s called a Mockingjay. Remember the monkey that attacked Dick?” Dean asked.

“Yeah…” Charlie nodded.

“Well it looked like it had a mix of something else, you know? I don't know what the mix was, but it’s called a Muttation. Mutt for short. Mockingjays are Mutts of Jabberjays and Mockingbirds.”

“I’ve heard stories about them before.” Jess said, nodding. “But I though all Jabberjays were dead.”

“Wait…what are Jabberjays?” Charlie asked. “The name sounds familiar, but…”

“Jabberjays are birds that were made by the Capitol.” Dean said, not wanting to get into the story while they were in the Arena. “Shit happened and they couldn’t use them anymore, so the Capitol released them, thinking they would just die off. Well, they ended up mating with Mockingbirds, those I think you might be familiar with?” Dean asked.

Charlie nodded.

“Well the Jabberjays mated with the Mockingbirds, which made the accidental Mutt of a Mockingjay. The story is known in a lot of places.” He shrugged. “Or so I’ve heard.”

“Yeah.” Jess said, realizing that Dean was trying to avoid getting them in trouble with the Capitol. “I’ve heard that the story has been heard all over Panem.”

“The story does sound a little familiar.” Charlie nodded, thinking about it. “So Mockingjays could be all over the place? Even in District 10?”

“Yep. I’ve seen one before in District 12. School let out and I saw it fly by.” Lie. He saw the bird when he was hunting with Benny. “Its tune was beautiful.” That was true. The bird had a beautiful voice, and neither Dean nor Benny had the heart to kill it. “Listen to this.” Dean said, giving a short whistle.

The group waited silently. Then the Mockingjay sung the note back to the three of them.

“No way.” Charlie said, a smile spreading. She gave three different whistles and waited with wide eyes.

The Mockingjay repeated it, joined with another Mockingjay who sang the three notes in a harmony with the first bird.

“It’s so beautiful.” Jess smiled.

“Told you.” Dean nodded. He whistled out a tune to a song that Mary used to sing to him when he was younger. “Listen.” He whispered.

They waited while the birds processed the song. Then the birds started singing in harmony with each other, their voices resonation around the forest.

They sang it as they flew away, leaving the group in a better mood than before.

“It’s time to hit the sack guys.” Dean said, starting to put things away. “I’ll keep a watch while you guys rest.”

“No, sleep.” Jess said.

“Are we gonna start an argument again?” Dean asked.

“Dean, we’re sleeping in the trees, no one will see us.” Jess argued. “It’ll be fine for you to sleep. Now that we don’t have Careers surrounding us, I’m gonna argue with you until you do the smart thing, and sleep.”

“Jess, we need for someone to keep watch, in case something happens.” Dean argued

“Then we’ll do it in turns.” Jess said firmly. “But you are not going to say up all night.”

“You sound like my mom.” Dean scoffed.

“Then someone in this group has some sense.” Jess said, getting up.

Dean only rolled his eyes and watched as the girls climbed up the nearest tree. He stomped out the fire and climbed after them with their stuff, settling on a branch, keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding, while making sure that Jess and Charlie were comfy.

“Wake me up in a few hours.” Jess said.

“Alright.” Dean sighed. He had no intentions to do so, and he watched as Jess narrowed his eyes and give him a look, before falling asleep.

 Dean only gave another sigh, and watched for anything that moved in the darkness of the forest. He heard the faint tune of the Mockingjay sing his song and he smiled.

 

It was time to sleep, but Sam couldn’t. He was only thinking about Dean and the Games. He had heard Dean tell the story of the Mockingjays. Everyone in District 12 knew about the story. Maybe people in other places did as well.

Sam, too anxious, got up and went downstairs, sneaking out of the house, even though it was getting close to curfew. He started a walk over to Benny’s house, hoping he was still up. Sam just wanted to _be_ with someone. And he also wanted to talk with Benny about the parachutes going to Dean and Jess tomorrow.

He almost ran into Castiel.

“I’m sorry.” Sam said, taking a step back and looking at Castiel.

Cas narrowed his eyes and studied Sam, making Sam fidget nervously. “Do I know you?” He asked.

“Um, no.” Sam shook his head. “You…you know Dean though.”

Cas’ eyes widened in surprise and knowledge. “You’re Dean’s brother. Sammy!”

“Only Dean calls me that.” Sam said.

“Right, sorry.” Cas nodded. “Cas.” He stuck out a hand and Sam shook it. “Shouldn’t you be asleep? Curfew is in 10 minutes.”

“I was just heading to a friend’s house.” Sam admitted. “I wanted to talk to him.”

“So you’re doing it in the middle of the night?” Cas asked.

“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep.” Sam said.

“I understand, kid.” Cas nodded knowingly. “Your brother really cares about you, you know.”

“I know.” Sam nodded. “He promised he was going to come back.”

“I think he has a good chance of coming back.” Cas said. “Whose house are you going to?”

“You wouldn’t know him. His name is Benny Lafitte.”

“Wait…that name sounds familiar. Aren’t you guys collecting donations or something?” Cas asked.

“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “So Dean and Jess can get a parachute tomorrow. We just sent all the donations in.”

“No wonder why Dean cares about you so much. You've got a heart of gold Sam.” Cas chuckled. “Let me walk with you to Benny’s house. If we get caught by some Peacekeepers, I think I’ll have an easier time talking us out of it than you.”

“Thanks.” Sam said, and the two began the journey to Benny’s house.


	10. Parachutes and Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Jess get their parachutes from District 12, and things have finally started to calm down in the Arena. But of course, it won't be that way for long...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I have killed almost half of the tributes already, and obviously more will follow, just not at this very moment. Though the next chapter...I'm probably gonna kill more people. And I have an idea of the next group of people that is gonna be offed.  
> God, I feel like Steven Moffat or Joss Whedon right now (or one of the Supernatural writers, seeming how everyone on the damn show dies at least once).

Dean woke with a start on the tree, and almost fell off. _Shit._ He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. But it was too late for that now. He turned to where Jess and Charlie were and saw that they were missing. Panic shot through Dean as he looked around to see if there were anywhere close.

All the stuff was still here, but they weren’t.

Dean climbed down the tree and looked around the immediate area, fear running through his veins. He risked yelling, not caring if of the other tributes were around. “Charlie! Jess!” He called out. “Guys!”

No answer.

“Fuck, guys! Charlie! Jess!” Dean started wandering around, keeping an eye on the tree with all the stuff. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Guys!” He called out.

“Dean!” Charlie said, emerging from a different section of the woods.

“God! You scared me. Where the hell is Jess?” Dean asked.

“Checking the rest of the snares and traps. Sorry, we should have left something to tell you we were going out.” Charlie said apologetically.

“It’s fine.” Dean said, gripping Charlie, like he would do when he was home with Sam. “Did we get anything?”

“There wasn’t any in the ones I checked. Jess was checking the last one when you started calling for us.”

“Alright. Let’s get back to the tree. Come on.” Dean said.

Dean and Charlie walked back to the tree, seeing Jess emerge from the trees. She was holding a tiny animal. It wouldn’t do much for food, but it was something.

“Fuck, leave a note next time. A notch in the tree or something.”

“Right, sorry.” Jess apologized.

“Did you reset the snare?” Dean asked.

“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “We didn’t get much.”

“It’s fine. We have stuff left over from last night.” Dean said. “And we’ll get some animals soon, trust me.”

“Alright.” Jess said.

 

They were wandering around the woods, making small marks in the trees around them so they could find their way back to their tree, when Charlie spotted two things floating down from the sky.

“Guys.” She pointed.

Dean and Jess looked up at saw the silver color from the small containers. “Parachutes! Someone sent us parachutes!” Jess said excitedly.

The two small cylinders landed in front of Dean’s and Jess’ feet and they picked them up curiously.

Jess opened hers first and pulled out what was in the container. It was a small loaf of bread and a small knife, similar to the one already on her.

She handed the knife to Charlie, saying “You need to be able to defend yourself too.”

Charlie smiled gratefully and Jess put the bread back in the container.

“See what’s in yours.” Jess said, nodding to the container in Dean’s hands.

Dean opened his container and pulled some cheese and another knife. “Looks like we’re all armed now.” Dean said with a smile. He looked in the container and saw a small note. “Wait, there’s something else.” He said, pulling the small piece of paper out.

He unfolded it and his eyes widened as he saw his brother’s scrawl on it.

“Whose it from?” Charlie asked.

“Sammy.” Dean said. “Benny and I got enough donations to send you guys stuff.” He read. “Good luck to the three of you.”

He pocketed the note and put the cheese back in the container.

“We should save this for a special occasion.” Jess said.

“Are you kidding? Every moment we’re alive in here is a special occasion. But we’ll save it for some other time. Let’s get it back to the tree.” Dean said.

They turned and walked back to the tree, and climbed up it to put the parachutes away.

 

It was mid-afternoon when Dean found some edible plants growing in the woods. They had already eaten a small lunch, but he could use this for dinner or some meal time tomorrow.

“Score.” He wasn’t a big plant eater, but when you grew up in a place like District 12, you learned not to complain. He picked the plants with a smile, thinking about different things he might be able to do with them and the other food.

 

He went back to their base and saw Charlie and Jess practicing throwing their knives.

“Nice job.” Dean nodded, walking over to them. “Guess what? I found some edible plants, about 20 feet that way.” He pointed.

“Cool.” Jess said. “Looks like things are starting to turn our way.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Dean sighed. He climbed up the tree and put the plants away with the other food that they were saving in their packs. “You guys keep practicing, I’ll keep an eye out for anything.” He said, settling into the tree.

“You mean like last night?” Jess asked, with a small smirk.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Dean said defensively.

“I know.” Jess nodded. “I figured you were going to try to go back on the deal we made and stay up all night, but I guess you just got too tired. I managed to wake myself up, and I waited in the darkness for you to fall asleep. Then I kept watch for the rest of the night.”

Dean scoffed, but there was a small smile playing on his face. “I cannot believe you.”

“So is that the deal we’ll have? You take one shift, I take the other during the night?”

“Yeah. Alright.” Dean nodded, meaning it. “I’ll take first shift.”

“OK. Just wake me up before you fall asleep this time.” Jess grinned, tossing her knife perfectly into the tree.

“Damn, you’re getting good. Remind me not to get you angry.” Dean said, looking down at Jess trying to pull her knife out of the tree.

She was on her third attempt to free it when Dean crawled down and stood alongside her.

“It’s the table all over again.” Dean chuckled.

“What table?” Charlie asked.

“Right, you don’t know.” Dean said with a grin. “I got a knife stuck in a knot in the table on the way to the Capitol.” He said, laughing lightly at the memory. “Let me show you how you get it out. Stand in front of me.” Dean motioned to Jess.

She walked in front of Dean, and Dean reached around her, grabbing her arm and letting her grasp the handle of the knife.

“Keep balanced. The first time I did this, I fell flat on my ass.” Dean said. That was a memory. Benny wouldn’t stop teasing him for days after the incident happened. And then Benny told John, who ruthlessly teased him as well. “Are you balanced?” He asked.

“Yep.” Jess nodded, planting her feet firmly in the ground.

“Good. Now you need to jerk it upwards, then downwards, the up again. Pull it while you do.”

Dean led Jess’ hand up and down and after a few moments, she managed to get the knife out.

“It’s out!” She said, pleased.

“Good job, Jess.” Dean patted her shoulder and climbed up the tree again, looking around. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anyone planning a sneak attack on them and Dean shrugged.

_Looks like today might be a boring day._

 

Sam had been at Benny’s house, watching what was happening in the Arena.

Dean and Jess had had gotten the parachutes, and now even Charlie had a weapon to help protect her.

“You know, the fact that Dean is being so protective and caring for Jess and Charlie, may help the group to their advantage.” A voice said from behind the teens.

Sam jumped and turned around to see Cas standing in the doorway.

“Your mother let me in.” Cas explained when Benny turned to give him a questioning look. “For some reason, the people at the Capitol suck up the whole older brother thing. And seeming how Dean cared enough to take your place, and now he is helping Jess and Charlie, he may get some things from sponsors.”

“That’s good.” Sam nodded, turning back to the TV, watching it switch from Dean and Jess pulling out a knife from a tree to the Careers at the Cornucopia.

The boy from District 1 and the boy from District 3 were arguing over something and Sam looked away. From the moment that he saw District 1’s face show up during the training stuff, he didn’t like him. Seeing him kill people mercilessly and hunt down Dean like a wild animal made everything worse.

“You alright?” Benny asked, turning towards Sammy, concerned.

“I just really hate the Careers.” Sam said quietly.

“No one likes the Careers, Sam. I hated them when I was in the Games, why would they change?” Cas said, settling down by the teens.

Sam only sighed and glanced back up when they switched from Careers to the other surviving tributes.

 

Dean had been right. Today had been a boring day. He was wondering when some action would start up again, because if it didn’t, then the Gamekeeper would send in something to liven the Games up.

The group was eating around another small fire that Jess had made.

Dean was still amazed at how skilled Jess was at fire making.

“How _are_ you so good?” Dean asked.

“I would have to make them every day during the winter. Our house didn’t have good installation. Hell, it still doesn’t, but it’s better than before. One time, when I was building the fire, something went wrong and the smoke started to fill the house. We were lucky we didn’t lose it. So from then on, I practiced and practiced until I could make a decent fire without much smoke. And now here we are. I guess making my smokeless fires is good for something, right?” Jess shrugged.

“Yes, guess so.” Dean nodded. The capitol emblem came up in the sky, but no faces showed that night. “Tomorrow.” Dean said, staring up at the sky.

“Tomorrow, what?” Jess asked.

“We’ll celebrate tomorrow.” Dean decided. “Any day here could be our last. So we’ll celebrate. And each day after that. Even if we don’t have the great feast we have right now. Who gives a fuck? We’re in here, we don’t have any rules. So what the hell, let’s party.”

Charlie smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a fun idea.” She said.

“Sure. Let’s do it.” Jess agreed.

Dean smiled and listened as some Mockingjays came to join them, singing Dean’s tune from the night before.

“Looks like the Mockingjays agree with my idea as well.” Dean laughed. He whistled a new tune and let the Mockingjays listen and process the song.

They started singing it, which gave Charlie an idea.

“Why don’t we whistle?” She asked.

“Whistle?” Dean asked, confused.

“If one of us leaves before the others wake up, then when the others _do_ wake up, then they can whistle out a short tune and wait to hear the reply from the other person.”

“That’s smart.” Jess said with a grin. “Here.” Jess gave out a five note whistle and the Mockingjays started to repeat it. “They like it.”

Dean and Charlie repeated the whistle and nodded. “I’m gonna take a quick leak, and then we’ll head to bed.” He said.

“Don’t get lost.” Charlie called after him, partly joking, partly serious.

“I won’t, sweetheart. Don’t worry.” Dean called out over his shoulder.

 

He urinated quickly and was starting to walk back when he heard a light snap of a branch. He quickly pulled out his knife and surveyed the dark area, trying to identify the noise.

“Show yourself.” He growled, slowly walking back to camp.

Dean heard no other noise, but it didn’t calm his nerves. He was fairly certain that it was one of the other tributes spying on him and the girls. Not one of the Careers, he was positive on that, but it was someone.

He got back to the camp and pulled Jess and Charlie over to the tree.

“Dean?” Jess asked.

“Climb and stay in the trees. I’ll take care of the fire, and keep the packs protected. I’m not sure, but someone may be out there.”

Jess and Charlie nodded and watched Dean put out the fire and they climbed the tree as silently as they could.

Dean looked around one more time before climbing the tree himself.

“Is everything still in our packs?” Dean asked.

“Dean…no one could have gotten to them with–” Jess began.

“Is everything in there?” He asked again.

He listened to Charlie and Jess open the packs and rifle through them.

“Everything’s good.” Jess said.

“Same with this one.” Charlie confirmed.

“Good.” Dean nodded. “You girls get some sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn Jess.”

“Understood.” Jess nodded. Dean listened to the slight shuffle of the girls positioning themselves on their tree branches and falling asleep.

Dean kept his eyes glued to the ground, listening for anything that could be someone sneaking.


	11. Tricks and Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, Jess, and Charlie wake up yo more empty snares and traps, and Dean figures out that someone is probably stealing their food when the group go to bed at night. So Dean sets up his own surprise for the mooching tribute.  
> The Careers also find another tribute and Lucifer shows him why you don't trust anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, new chapter! So, not as many people died as I thought I was going to write about, but that's OK because more people are going to die in the next chapter (the rest that didn't die in this chapter....including someone that you may hold dear by this point in the story)(Mwahahaa)

Dean switched guard duty with Jess during the night, like promised. He relaxed as best as he could against the tree and closed his eyes, letting sleep overtake him.

He slept throughout the rest of the night soundly.

 

When he woke the next day, he saw Charlie awake, sitting by him in the tree, playing absent-mindedly with her knife.

“Hey. Where’s Jess?” He asked, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes.

“Checking the snares.” Charlie said. “I still didn’t find anything.” She said.

“Seriously?” Dean asked. He thought back on last night and the sound that he heard. “Motherfucker.” He swore under his breath. “I think we’re being fucking robbed.”

“What?” Charlie asked, eyes widening.

“Yeah. Remember last night? I was pretty sure I heard someone in the woods. I think the fucker is stealing anything that gets caught in the traps.”

Jess returned then, carrying another tiny animal.

She climbed the tree and showed the group the animal. “It’s not a lot.” She said, sadly.

“Dean thinks were getting robbed of our food.” Charlie said quietly.

“Seriously?” Jess asked, looking over at Dean.

Dean nodded, and looked around, not seeing any sign that there was a person out there.

“Don’t talk about it out loud.” Dean said. “If we are getting robbed of food, I don’t want the person to figure out.” He said.

Jess and Charlie nodded in agreement.

“Keep the packs on. Do not let them out of your sight. I don’t want anything else to go missing. And keep your knives secure.” Dean ordered, beginning to climb down the tree.

If he saw anyone that wasn’t Jess or Charlie around this camp site, he didn’t care, they were dead meat.

 

This day was turning out to be as boring as the last. Dean started setting up new snares around the other ones. If anyone came close to the snares that had food, they were going to get caught themselves, or at least get a chunk taken out of a body part.

When Dean went back to camp, he saw Charlie and Jess just sitting and talking. He could tell by their posture that they were tense, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Dean smiled grimly, not sure whether to be proud or sorry that they knew to be aware now.

“I’m assuming you guys haven’t seen or heard anything?” Dean asked, sitting down by the girls. They shook their heads.

“Nothing.” Jess said. “Do you think anyone will die within the next few days?”

If Dean had anything to say about it, yes. The motherfucking food stealer was going down.

“Probably. No one can stay hidden for long.” Dean shrugged.

An idea grew in his head, one that made him cringe on the inside, but if it stopped someone stealing their food, then so be it.

“I have an idea on how to see if someone is stealing our food.” Dean said, lowering his voice.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“Move the food we got into one parachute, then put Nightlock in the other, ‘to help store’ or some shit like that. We leave the parachute out in the open and wait to see if a cannon goes off.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Jess asked.

“Then we find another way to stop the asshole stealing our food.” Dean shrugged.

 

The day passed by with no deaths again. Dean, Charlie, and Jess acted like normal, and even celebrated like Dean said they would.

They told stories about life back home, and by the end of it, they were laughing so hard they were crying.

For a little while, Dean felt like he was home.

The Capitol emblem showed and passed, and the group ignored it like it was nothing.

They put the remaining cheese with the bread and put it in one of the packs, then Dean pulled out the Nightlock ‘as a surprise’, saying how he found these berries and tried them, finding them delicious.

They put the berries in the parachute and put it in the other pack.

Jess stomped out the fire and in the moment of pitch black while their eyes were adjusting, Dean ‘tripped’ which sent the parachute rolling out. He pretended not to notice.

“God Jess, warn a guy next time you do that.” Dean joked with a grin. He felt bad for doing what he was doing, but the thought of someone stealing their shit angered him more, so he soon didn’t care.

If someone stole a family’s food back home, they were dead. Why should this place be any different?

They climbed up the tree and went to bed.

The cannon didn’t fire off until it was well into Jess’ shift.

 

The cannon went off like a rocket, waking the Careers at the Cornucopia.

“Who the fuck is killing someone this early in the morning?” Gordon asked, more annoyed than angry at the cannon.

“Whoever did must be twisted.” Lucifer muttered.

“And we aren’t?” Bela scoffed.

“How about you all shut the fuck up and go back to sleep before I fucking murder every single one of you?” Lilith growled.

Gordon made a noise that sounded like the mix of a scoff and a laugh. “Alright. Fine. We’re going back to sleep. When the sun comes up we should look for the fucker who had the guts to kill the person. Never know, could be more dangerous for us.”

“Whatever. Fucking sleep.” Lilith muttered.

 

By the time the sun was starting to rise, Dean, Jess, and Charlie were up and about. “Go look at the snares. But be careful, I set up other snares to ward off prying hands.” Dean said. “I’m going to see if I can find the parachute.” He walked off in a random direction while Charlie and Jess went to look at snares.

By the time they regrouped, each person came back holding something. Dean, the empty parachute, and Charlie and Jess holding birds and rabbits. Jess was even holding one of those weird monkey hybrid things.

“There we go!” Dean said happily. “We have food!” He cheered.

“We should be careful about the monkey.” Charlie said. “God knows what would happen if the other monkeys saw up eating their family.”

Yeah, you’re right.” Dean nodded. “Jess, make a fire. Charlie, start cutting it up. The sooner we can preserve it, the better.” Dean said.

“You got it.” Jess nodded, handing the monkey thing to Charlie. Dean took the other animals to prep those. Charlie would have enough work to do cutting the monkey.

“We should look to see if the other tribute still has food. We should find the camp.” Jess said.

“If they managed to stay hidden all throughout the day, I doubt that we’ll find the camp.” Dean said.

“Just a thought.” Jess shrugged, putting twigs and small branches down for the fire.

 

The Careers moved through the forest, avoiding any thing that could possibly make noise. They were on the hunt and weren’t going to rest until another tribute was dead today.

That was when Abaddon picked up a trail.

“Looky here.” She grinned. “Looks like someone’s luck is about to run out.”

They started after the trail, moving quickly and quietly.

 

Lilith was claiming it was District 6’s male tribute when they saw the boy moving around the forest, unaware of the danger lurking behind him.

“Who wants to kill him?” Gordon asked with a horrible grin.

“Me.” Lucifer said. “I never liked him during Training. I wanna gut him like the moron he is.”

“Be my guest.” Gordon said, motioning to the boy.

Lucifer walked out casually, heading over to the boy, who had his back turned. _Stupid move, 6._ Lucifer walked over, clasping the boy around his shoulder.

6 jumped a foot in the air, and Lucifer did all he could not to laugh.

“What’s up? You’re from District 6, right?” He asked.

The boy nodded, watching Lucifer with wary eyes.

“Great. Nice to meet you, what’s your name? Mine’s Lucifer.” He grinned.

The boy gave him a look, then a look to the surrounding area. “Are you alone?” 6 asked.

“If I wasn’t, I think you would know by now.” Lucifer said. “I left those idiots of Careers. Morons, the lot of them.” He said with a charming smile.

“Right…” 6 said, giving a final look around. “I’m Azazel, by the way.”

“Azazel. That has a nice ring to it.” Lucifer nodded. “Whatcha doing, Azazel?”

“I…I managed to find some food.” He said, motioning to the stuff behind him. “I was eating.”

Lucifer looked down at the mediocre pile of food and held his laughter in again. “Good job. But if you want…I can get you to the Cornucopia. Get as much food as you want.” He said.

Azazel’s eyes grew at the sound of that. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Lucifer scoffed. “Why not? I’m telling you, the lot of them are morons. We can get away with it. Come on.” Lucifer said, starting to walk off. He carefully pulled out the knife he had hidden in his sheath, making sure Azazel didn’t see it.

The boy was walking after him, close behind.

“Oh! One more thing, Azazel.” Lucifer said, still walking.

“What’s that?” The boy asked.

Lucifer spun on him before Azazel could react, and the blade sunk into Azazel’s stomach. He looked down at the knife then up at Lucifer, fear in his eyes.

Lucifer enjoyed seeing the light go out in Azazel.

“Never fucking trust anyone.” Lucifer growled, sharply lifting the blade upwards, practically slicing Azazel’s chest in half. He pulled the knife back and happily watched the blood pour out of Azazel. The cannon fire happened right as the boy’s body hit the ground.

The other Careers emerged from the trees, laughing.

“God, you had him by the seat of his pants!” Gordon grinned. “So, we’re morons?” He scoffed.

“Nah. He was the moron for trusting anyone. Especially me.” Lucifer shrugged. The Careers walked off, while the ship came overhead to pick up the dead body.

 

The new cannon fire startled the small group from their work.

“Two people dead today.” Jess said, a little sorrowfully. “It’s only been about a week, hasn’t it?” She asked.

Dean nodded. “Just about, I think. It seems like the days are just blending together.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Jess scoffed. She shook her head and sighed.

“How many deaths have there been so far?” Charlie asked.

“From what I remember…12. Half of us are dead now.” Jess said somberly.

“Fuck.” Dean muttered, thinking about the reality of the situation. If the three of them managed to survive until the top eight, their families were going to be interviewed and shown alongside the Games.

Just four more people…and it would happen.

“Fuck.” Dean repeated. “Don’t make me think about it.” _It hurts too much._ He added silently.

Jess and Charlie saw the look in Dean’s eyes. They nodded silently, and dropped the subject.

 

That night they watch the sky, seeing who died now.

The girl from District 5 was dead now, along with the male from District 6.

“Wonder which one fell for our trap. Naomi, or Azazel.” Jess pondered, looking up at the sky, even as the faces left and was replaced by stars.

“Don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to.” Dean said. “Let’s hit the hay.” He said getting up.

“Right.” Jess nodded.

Dean was done talking for now. He didn’t want to think anymore.

 

That night, Dean had dreams and nightmares about Sammy, Jess, and Charlie dying. And he couldn’t do anything about it.


	12. What Happens When Shit Hits The Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, Jess, and Charlie find out where the Cornucopia is and sabotage it. Sam had a heart to heart moment with John. A few more people die, including one that has grown close to Dean.

When the sun rose the next day, Dean shivered from the dreams he had. Sammy would die. Jess would die. Charlie would die. Ever damn time he closed his eyes, he dreamt about one of them dying, and in his dream he couldn’t do anything about it.

He shivered again, and climbed down the tree, noting how Jess and Charlie were watching him from down below.

“How long was I out?” Dean asked.

“’Bout an hour longer than normal.” Jess said. “We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t budge, so we just left you there.”

“Right.” Dean nodded, sitting down with them.

“Dean…” Charlie said hesitantly.

“What’s up, sweetheart?” Dean asked, turning to the young girl.

“Last night…you…” She trailed off, glancing over at Jess, who gave her a small nod to continue. “…you were calling our names in your sleep. Your brother’s too.”

Dean looked down and gave a soft chuckle. “Yeah…don’t…don’t worry about that, alright Charlie?” He looked back up, his eyes pleading. “Don’t worry about that.”

“OK.” Charlie nodded, understandingly.

 

Sam watched the small group talk. He heard what Charlie said. Dean was talking in his sleep, and he was calling for Charlie, Jess, and himself.

That only meant one thing.

Dean was having nightmares.

Sam let out a shaky breath. Yesterday, he had watched Dean think up the plan to stop the District 5 girl –what did Jess call her? Naomi?– from stealing their food. And that was by using Nightlock, deadly berries that’ll kill you within a minute.

Sam also saw the dead look in Dean’s eyes. He hated doing it, didn’t want to do it. But there he was, telling the girls of the plan. And they put it into action.

Sure enough, the girl came out and picked up the parachute, taking it and leaving to a little area, not her hideout though. She opened the container, and ate a ton of the berries.

Within 30 seconds, she hit the ground, dead. And the cannon went off.

Mary had yelled at him for being up the early, but she saw Sam’s face, knew something had happen.

When Sam told her about everything that had happened, Mary wept with him.

 

“Sam?” John came walking in the room carefully, eyeing his son and trying to figure out the mood he was in.

“Hey Dad.” Sam said, pulling his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “Did Mom tell you…?”

“Yeah, son. She did.” John nodded, kneeling by his youngest son. “Does Dean regret what he did?”

“He had nightmares. About them…” He nodded up to the TV. “…and me.”

John sighed and thought about everything that was happening. “Well, you know what that means? That means that he still has humanity in him. It means that he knows that taking these kids lives are wrong.” John said. “That’s the important thing.” He said, wrapping his arms around his kid.

“When…when Dean comes back…will the nightmares go away?”

“No, they probably won’t.” John answered honestly. “They probably won’t go away for a long time. So, when Dean does come back…we’ll need to make sure we’re there for him whenever he needs us, OK?”

“OK, Dad.” Sam nodded. “I really miss him, Dad.” His voice cracked and he crumpled in John’s arms.

It felt like something broke in John. “I know, Sammy. I miss him too.” He soothed and cradled his son, praying that Dean would make it out of the Games alive.

 

The group hadn’t really done anything productive, mainly staying in the small group that they had formed, unless one of them had to leave to relieve themselves.

“What do you think it would be like if we made it to the top eight?” Jess asked, thinking.

“They’d interview our families and friends.” Dean said. “It would definitely be interesting, seeming how we’re from 10 and 12. Something you don’t see every Game, huh?” He gave a short laugh, thinking about back home.

“Yeah.” Charlie and Jess agreed. “We’ll need to keep an eye out for the Careers, won’t we?” Charlie asked.

“We will, yeah.” Dean nodded. “Maybe we should figure out how far we are from the Cornucopia. Make sure we can stay safe.”

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Charlie said.

“Let’s go on a little adventure then, guys.” Dean said, getting up and grabbing a pack, slinging it onto his back. “Come on.”

 

After walking around, leaving subtle marks to find their way back to their tree, they finally found the Cornucopia.

The girl from District 3 was chilling there, looking around and playing with whatever weapon she had in her hands.

She looked completely and utterly bored.

“We found it, and look at everything they have.” Dean said.

Sure enough, the Careers had a shit ton of everything ranging from food to weapons.

“I wish we could take that.” Jess sighed.

“Yeah.” Charlie nodded.

Dean looked around, surveying the land. He sighed. “Except we can’t.” He said. “We can’t just walk in, we wouldn’t make it out alive, especially if we weren’t careful.”

“Why’s that?” Jess asked.

“Look at the ground.” Dean pointed out. “Look around the Cornucopia. They’ve set land mines _everywhere_. It’s completely protected.” Charlie and Jess analyzed the ground and saw the small mounds of dirt covering the area. “Damn.”

“At least we know where they are.” Charlie said.

“Yeah.” Dean sighed. They had a lot, and he was wondering if there was some way to make the playing field even with the Careers. “Let’s just head back to camp. It’s probably safer there.” Dean said, turning around and leaving.

 

The day passed with no deaths, and soon day became night.

“No one died today.” Jess mused. Charlie was already asleep, but Jess was wide awake.

“Yeah, but they’ll happen soon enough.” He said, looking around at the darkness from the tree. “I’ve been thinking…maybe there is a way we can try to sabotage the Careers stuff. You know make the playing field equal for everyone in here.” Dean said.

“Yeah? How?” Jess asked.

“Are there rocks in the creek we use?” Dean asked.

“Rocks?” Jess asked, confused. “Yeah…I think so.”

“I’ll look tomorrow. I think I have an idea.”

“Are you gonna shed light on the subject?” Jess asked.

“Tomorrow.” Dean promised. “Try to get some sleep Jess.”

And with that, Dean shut up for the night.

 

The next day, Dean did find rocks in the creek, one of them being a good size. If Dean threw it hard enough, it would go far.

“OK, Dean. What’s your plan?”

“Toss it on one of the mines. Blow up their shit.” Dean said, weighing the rock.

“Really? What if one of the Careers is there?”

Dean hadn’t really thought about that. “I’m not sure.” He admitted. “I guess we’ll figure out when we get there.”

He turned and started walking to the Cornucopia.

 

When the group got there, no one was there. _If there is a higher being up there, thank you._ Dean silently prayed.

He cautiously stepped out of the woods, looking around, making sure no one was in the immediate area.

No one.

He pulled out the rock he had and aimed, tossing it as hard as he could at one of the dirt mounds then ran right as he saw that he was going to have a hit.

“Run, fucking run. Shit’s gonna fly everywhere.” Dean said, taking off, as the explosion from the land mines started.

Jess and Charlie took off after him and they got to a safe distance, listening to the explosions.

“You did it!” Jess said happily once the explosions died down.

Dean grinned and nodded. “We’ve just evened it out for us and possibly the rest of the other tributes.” Dean said. “Let’s go see the damage, now that pieces aren’t flying everywhere.” He said happily.

The group walked back and hid in some shrubs, looking at the damage gleefully.

“I can’t believe that you just blew up all of the stuff.” Jess scoffed.

Anything that can help us in an advantage.” Dean shrugged.

The Careers came back, hearing the noise and Dean did everything he could not to laugh and give away their position.

The Careers looked shocked and Gordon looked beyond furious. He started yelling, somewhat to himself and somewhat to the other Careers.

Dean was happy about it until he saw the anger turn towards the District 3 girl, and Dean watched Gordon snap her neck. Dean’s blood ran cold. The girl’s body fell to the ground and the cannon fired.

“Oh my god, he killed her. Why did he kill her?” Jess asked, horrified.

Dean felt numb as he thought about it. She was there yesterday. She was probably told to stay there today, but she wanted to come along.

“Because she wasn’t guarding like how she was yesterday.” Dean said, looking at the ground. “She went with them, and someone came along and blew up their stuff. If she had been there…I wouldn’t have been able to toss the rock to blow everything up.”

“But it wasn’t her fault!” Jess insisted.

“Doesn’t matter. She’s a scapegoat.” Dean scoffed in disbelief. “What was her name?”

“What?” Jess looked at him.

“What was her name? The girl who died?” Dean asked, looking over at the crumpled body on the ground and the retreating Careers.

“Lilith.” Jess said.

Dean nodded and stood up. “We’re gonna go back to camp guys. Come on.”

 

They settled back down and Dean refused to look anywhere but the ground. Yeah, the girl may have been a Career, but he felt bad for her death. He hadn’t meant to get anyone killed, just royally pissed.

_Well, you sure did that._

Dean didn’t do much for the rest of the day, shooting down any attempt Charlie or Jess tried to make to talk to him.

He just wanted to be left alone. These Games were fucking with him in ways he never realized, and he just wanted to be alone.

He didn’t even _want_ to think what his life was going to be like back home. He knew that no matter what he would do at home, he was going to be haunted by each and everyone’s faces in his dreams. Especially the girl from District 3.

That night, Dean ignored the sky, and when he went to bed that night, the nightmares returned, even worse than before.

 

Dean has been in the Arena for an entire week now. He’s kept Charlie and Jess alive for an entire week.

Sam thought about that fact a lot the day after the District 3 girl died. He thought about it as he watched Dean shut down against everything that Charlie and Jess tried to do. Sam knew that Dean was blaming himself for the death of the girl from 3.

“He couldn’t have known.” Mary had insisted.

Like that was going to help Dean.

Benny came over more often, keeping an eye on Sam and his reactions to what was happening in the Games. Surprisingly enough, Cas came around a few times.

Sam didn’t really care. All his focus was on his brother. He wanted to comfort him. But he couldn’t.

Sam was glad that no one died that day.

 

“How many days has it been?” Charlie asked.

“Not really sure…I’ve lost count.” Dean scoffed, sitting against a tree. It was the most he’d talk all day.

“9…I think.” Jess said, cleaning up their camp area from lunch.

She had all but given up trying to keep Dean’s mind focused on anything else but the Lilith. It was pointless by now.

“Nine? Wow.” Charlie sighed, thinking. “It’s felt like longer, hasn’t it?” She asked.

“It has.” Dean nodded, staring into nothing.

“I’m going to go relieve myself.” Charlie said, getting up.

“Alright. Just don’t wander off too far.” Jess said.

“OK.” Charlie went off.

 

Abaddon was wandering around the woods. They had managed to salvage a little from the explosion, but not a lot. So here she was, looking for food like a fucking idiot.

That was when she saw the little red-haired girl from 10. If she was here, then so what District 12. _Fuck telling Gordon shit._ 12 was probably the ass who ruined their stuff in the first place.

Abaddon watched 10 do her business behind a tree, and clean her hands in a stream. Then she walked off. Abaddon smiled and followed.

 

Charlie walked back and settled down by Jess. Dean was still by the tree. He was facing them. Looking at them. But yet, looking right through them.

“Do you think he’ll get better?” Charlie asked quietly.

“Don’t know.” Jess shrugged, looking down at the piece of wood she was whittling with her knife.

Charlie sighed and looked away from the boy slumped by the tree. That was when she thought she saw fire red hair.

“Guys?” She said, her voice staying quiet but becoming alert.

Jess turned her head. “What?” She asked.

“I thought I saw something. Red hair.” Charlie looked around to look for the red hair again. Who else had red hair besides herself?

“Red hair?” Jess said. “Abaddon.” She muttered, realizing what might be happening right now. “Dean.” She turned to face him.

He actually looked at her and saw her wide eyes. It seemed like the some of the fire from before came back into Dean.

He started getting up, asking what was wrong when Charlie screamed out and jumped in front of Jess, getting hit with something.

Dean looked down in horror, watching Charlie beginning to bleed, three blades sticking out of her body, one bloody blade in her hand.

“No.” He whispered. “NO!” He screamed, turning to the area that the blades came from. He saw red hair moving away from him and he cried out in anger, pulling out his knife and taking off after the bright hair, a siren of red against all the green and brown.

He caught up to her and lashed out, tackling her to the ground and pinning her.

“Are there more of you?” He growled.

“You’ll never know.” She laughed out.

He pulled his fist back and brought it down with a satisfying crunch against her nose. Blood began to pour out and he growled.

“Are there any more of you goddamned Careers!” He shouted.

He pressed the blade against her throat.

“Fuck!” She groaned out. He pressed tighter, watching small droplets pool up. “Fuck! No! It’s only me!” She said.

Dean pulled the blade back and pulled up the girl before she could do anything.

Then he began to strike as hard and as fast as he could. She screamed in fear, but he wouldn’t let her escape. The steely anger he had from so long ago when he volunteered in the first place was back. All he could think about was Charlie. How he would feel if it was Sam in Charlie’s place.

By the time he heard multiple bones crack, he let Abaddon drop to the ground. He knelt by her and gave a vicious snarl.

“You shouldn’t have come.” And with that, he plunged his knife in her chest.

He pulled up the knife and wiped it on his pant leg when he heard the cannon fire, signaling the girl was dead.

That was only one cannon. Charlie.

Dean ran back, seeing Charlie’s blood on both girls.

“Charlie?” Dean asked, voice quivering. He dropped to his knees by Jess, who was cradling Charlie’s head. “It’s gonna be OK, Charlie. I promise.”

“I know.” Charlie said softly, tears running down the side of her face. Dean glanced up and saw Jess softly sobbing as well. His breath caught in his throat as he looked back down at Charlie.

He dropped the knife and took her hand in his.

“Cannon went off. The girl is dead?” Charlie said.

“Yeah. She’s dead.” Dean nodded, feeling the sting of tears welling in his eyes. His vision blurred, and he tried to blink the tears away. It didn’t help.  “Charlie, you’re gonna be OK.”

“Dean?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah?” A tear slipped down his face.

“Tell me about your brother.” Charlie said.

“Well…” Dean shuddered out a breath. “He’s this obnoxious snot-nosed kid. Just turned 12 a while back. But he’s my baby brother, and I love him. He’s probably the most curious kid I’ve ever met. Always wants to learn and read. He’s got hazel eyes and floppy brown hair that he enjoys growing out despite what our dad says about it. He loves to help people, always there to make sure they’re OK, you know? He’s the sweetest guy a person could meet. He’s got this puppy dog look to him, that’ll make anyone fall in love with him.” Dean said, voice cracking all over the place. “And he’s the greatest brother a guy could ask for.” He finished.

Charlie smiled faintly.

“You’re right Dean…I would’ve liked him.” Charlie said, barely a whisper. That was the moment the lights went out of Charlie’s eyes.

The cannon fired off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, it kinda hurt writing out Charlie's death. When I was writing out Dean describing Sam to Charlie, I realized what my sister was listening to. She was listening to the lullaby version of Carry On Wayward Son with vocals. Talk about heart wrenching.


	13. Giving and Getting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie is dead, so Dean and Jess do one last thing before the people at the Capitol can take Charlie's body. Dean and Jess move away from the tree and make camp at a new place. They start keeping tally of the days that have passed and all the tributes who've died so far. Jess adds to the list and Dean gets injured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was going to go up earlier, but I was having a small thing of writer's block. I hope that you guys are enjoying the story so far. Thanks :)

Dean felt broken inside. He felt dead. The anger from the Career was still there, but it was quickly being filled by sorrow and pain and ache.

Tears were running down his face and he screamed in anger. In anguish. In pain. Who fucking knew? Who fucking cared? The Capitol didn’t, that was for sure.

All they were to the Capitol was fresh meat to butcher.

So Dean did something. He stood up, covered in the blood of the Career and his friend, and he looked up at the sky, knowing that a camera was catching him somewhere.

All eyes were probably on him right now. He lifted the three middle fingers on his left hand to his lips, then raised them to the air above.

He heard Jess shift around behind him and knew she was doing the same.

Then Dean opened his mouth. “Charlie’s death won’t be in vain. I swear.” He promised to the sky, wondering if that was going to be shown on TV.

He turned back to the small body of his friend. She was so pale now, now that a good amount of the blood was gone from her body.

“Goodnight Charlie.” Dean whispered, the tears still running freely down his face. He shut her eyes and took in a deep shaky breath. “I hope you’re free, wherever you are.”

He removed the blades from Charlie’s body and pulled Jess up, settling Charlie’s body carefully on the ground.

“They’re going to take her body away.” Jess said.

“I know, but not before I do something. One last reminder of Charlie, you know?”

Dean had remember seeing a patch of flowers somewhere. Nothing special, but they would do for now.

“I know this is gonna hurt, but I need you to stand by her body. So they can’t take her.” Dean said. “I’m gonna go get some stuff. We’re gonna give her a proper burial, even if we can’t put her in the ground.”

And with that Dean left find the flowers.

 

He came back quickly with an armful of flowers and leaves.

Jess choked out a sob, seeing what Dean was doing and she helped position all the plants around and on their friend.

When they were finally done, they stood up and looked at Charlie’s body. It looked peaceful, almost.

“It’s the best we’re gonna get.” Jess said.

“I know.” Dean nodded. He went over to the packs and picked them up, tossing one to Jess. “We have to go. It’s probably not safe here anymore. Once the Careers know their friend is dead…hell is gonna break loose.”

Both teens were still shaken, but they had managed to get their tears under control.

“Goodbye Charlie.” Jess whispered before they left. “We’ll never forget you.”

And with that they left.

 

Seeing what Dean and Jess did for Charlie was probably one of the hardest things that Sam had even seen. He was aware of Mary crying behind him, John trying to sooth her. Hell, Benny was even shedding a few tears. The pain of Dean’s face was so strong, Sam could feel something twist in his gut.

Then Dean did the gesture. And everything seemed to stop, everyone’s eyes glued to the TV.

“Charlie’s death won’t be in vain. I swear.” Dean said. He turned and told Jess to stay with Charlie’s body while he went off.

Dean had come back with flowers and leaves and Jess and Dean placed them around Charlie’s tiny body.

Mary started crying again.

“Dean’s gonna get through this Mom. He will.” Sam said, watching the retreating figures of Jess and Dean. “He will.”

 

“Fuck! She’s probably one of the people who died!” Bela growled out. “There’s only three of us left.”

“We can handle six other people.” Gordon scoffed. “It’s not like we don’t have brute strength on our side.”

“Whatever.” Bela scoffed.

“I want to know who the other person who died was.” Lucifer said.

“Why?” Bela asked.

“Because the cannons shot off only a few minutes after one another. Abaddon probably attacked someone and pissed someone off. That’s why she died. In fact, it’s her own damn fault she got killed.” Lucifer said.

“See?” Gordon said. “Now, how about you stop your whining before three becomes two?”

Bela rolled her eyes, but she shut up.

 

Dean and Jess had been wandering around aimlessly, not really sure where they were.

Dean’s sorrow had gone back to anger and rage, and every so often, he would mutter under his breath about how he was going to personally kill every single Career that was left.

Jess stayed quiet, letting him rant and rave. Honestly, she felt some anger towards the Careers as well, she just wasn’t as vocal about it.

 

They found a huge river, probably the source from where all the little creeks came from, which meant that Jess and Dean had to be careful, knowing that the remaining Careers could be around somewhere.

Slowly, piece by piece, Dean and Jess washed as much blood of their clothes as they could.

As Dean was washing his shirt off, Jess said the amulet hanging down from his neck. “You’re lucky you got something from back home to bring with you.”

Dean grunted and scrubbed the clothing harder. Jess seemed better at getting blood out than Dean, but of course she probably had dealt with cleaning blood out more often than Dean, being female.

They lounged around in their undergarments while their clothes dried. Dean didn’t talk a lot, mind wandering back to home and his family, or over to Charlie, and what her family must be feeling right now.

When the clothes were dry enough to wear, Dean and Jess put them on and went 30 feet to their left, keeping the river in the distance, but making sure they could escape if they needed to.

 

That night Dean cried quietly, seeing Charlie’s face showing up in the nighttime sky.

 

“Fuck. It was 12.” Bela growled. “She went after 12 and got killed for it.” He said, seeing the girl from 10 show up in the sky.

“Well, Gordon said not to go after him and look what happened to her when she did. She got killed for it. Boo-hoo for her.” Lucifer shrugged.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Gordon said.

 

The sun rose and Dean looked up at the sky blearily. He looked over in the tree and saw Jess just staring into space.

"You haven't moved from that spot, have you?" Dean asked. Jess nodded “How long have you been there?”

“Don’t know. Before sunrise.” Jess said, with a shrug. “Thinking about Charlie.” She admitted softly.

“Right.” Dean nodded softly, understanding. Last night, nightmares filled his head, every single one involving Charlie dying some horrible way. “We should set up some snares. You know…keep our food supply good and everything.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan.” Jess nodded in agreement. They got down from the tree slowly and prepared for a new day.

 

Throughout the entire day, Dean prayed there would be no deaths. Especially around his and Jess’ vicinity. These Games were just slowly fucking and twisting him, and he felt a pain inside him, one that he wasn’t sure would ever go away, even when these damn Games were done.

“You know what? I think we should try to keep track of how long we’ve been here.” Jess said.

“Why?” Dean asked.

“So we know how long we’ve survived. We’ve been here for 11 days, I think.” Jess said. “It’s something we can focus on. We’ve been here this long, we can make it longer. And, starting today, we can focus on keeping Charlie’s memory alive. Don’t let anyone forget about her.”

Dean nodded, thinking about what Jess said. He looked up at the girl and gave a small smile. He turned and looked for a nice fallen branch, and pulled out his knife, making 11 small notches in the wood.

“There. 11 notches. 11 days.” He put it in a pack, and looked around at the different trees.

Then Dean went over and climbed on of the trees, getting to a good height and started carving into the tree.

“Dean? What are you doing?” Jess asked.

“Putting all the dead tributes names down. Making sure we remember everyone who’s died so far.

Jess watched him putt down Charlie, Lilith, and Abaddon.

“It’s hard to remember everyone. Do…do you remember all the names still?” Dean asked.

“I do.” Jess climbed up the tree and told him the different names, watching him write each one down, carefully.

 

When he finished, they climbed back down the tree and looked up at their work. “Now we won’t forget.” Dean smiled grimly. “I want to remember all the names like how you are.” He admitted. “This way, I can.”

“I like it.” Jess nodded. “You should memorize it every chance you get.”

“I will.” Dean promised. This was probably one of the first times that Dean had shown interest in learning, but he was going to do it.

 

Dean’s prayers seemed to be answered. No deaths happened that day, and Dean slept a little easier that night.

 

When the sun rose the next day, he saw that Jess was gone from the tree.

He climbed down the tree and was about to make their whistle, when he heard talking. His heart beat sped up and he dashed back up the tree, keeping a watch out for whoever was talking and for Jess.

 _Goddamn it._ It was the Careers.

 

He watched them move in the distance. They were on the other side of the river, but if there was any movement over here, the Careers would come see what it was.

He saw Jess emerging from the other side of the trees. If she stood by their tree, the Careers would definitely see her. Dean got as low as he dared, trying to stay hidden from the Careers and softly called for Jess, making movements to tell her to stop walking.

She was almost in view of the Careers when she finally decided to look up at Dean.

“Go back! Go fucking back!” He hissed. “The Careers are on the other side of the river! Go. Back!” He shooed her away, keeping his voice in a whisper.

Her eyes went wide and she retreated, climbing a tree.

Dean climbed back up his and kept a watch on the Careers, seeing them wash in the river, and arguing about something. It was Gordon and the other male tribute verses Bela.

He watched Bela shut up, but she was pissed about it.

They left a little while later and once Dean was sure that they wouldn’t come back, he climbed down the tree.

Jess came soon after him and let out a breath of relief. “I thought I was gonna be dead meat.”

“So did I. Where were you?” Dean asked.

“Relieving myself. I have to pee sometime, you know.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Dean shrugged.

Jess climbed back up the tree and added a notch to their branch. “12 days.” She smiled. She put it away and looked over at the tree with the names. “You know…there are still nine people alive. Three of them being those Careers. What are we going to do if they die before everyone else?”

“Not sure. Don’t think about it.” Dean said.

“OK.” Jess nodded.

 

The day was going pretty well. Some Mockingjays had come along and Jess and Dean were whistling different tunes for the birds to learn and sing. Listening to their voices together was beautiful and it gave the two teens some relief.

That was until a crazed tribute came running out of the woods.

 

Surprised, Dean tried to defend himself, but got knocked against a tree. He looked wildly at Jess, who pulled out her knife in a flash and was ready to defend herself. This tribute looked incredibly thin, and was probably the way he was due to not having enough to eat.

Honestly, no one had enough to eat. Dean knew that he’s probably lost weight since the beginning of the Games.

But no one was as crazed-looking as this guy was right now. He leapt as Jess and Jess slashed at him, cutting him in the arm.

The tribute yelled in pain and rammed towards Jess again, blood pouring down from his wound. Jess stabbed at him again, and got him across the chest, and move back some, to give herself more space. Her eyes were wide in fear, and she was as pale as a ghost.

Dean tried to get up, but sunk back to the ground, head spinning. He had hit the tree pretty hard, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Now, he was pretty sure he had a concussion.

“Get him Jess.” He croaked out.

The tribute turned to look at Dean and he started towards him. That was when Jess lunged forward and got him right in the back.

Dean watched the tribute’s face twist in pain, before he collapsed on the ground and the cannon shot off. Jess pulled out the knife and wiped it on the ground, rolling the tribute over, looking at his face.

“Who was it?” Dean asked, groaning. He got up slowly, leaning on the tree for support. His head was throbbing.

“Zachariah.” Jess said, tuning him back over on his stomach. “Are you OK?” She asked, putting away her knife.

“I think I got a concussion. We should get out of here. Grab the packs, then help me.” Dean said.

Jess nodded and swiftly got the packs, helping Dean put one on, and they slowly went off, listening to the craft fly over them to retrieve the body.

“Congrats, you just killed your first tribute.” Dean groaned out.

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” Jess said, the color beginning to come back to her face.

 

By the time they got back to the trees, all that was left was a wet, bloody patch in the middle of the ground. Dean groaned and sank down by a tree, holding his head in his hands.

“Are you going to be OK?” Jess asked, worriedly.

“Just great.” Dean groaned out with a smile. “Go write Zach’s name on the tree.” He said, pointing.

“Alright.” Jess said, in a voice that she wasn’t going to pressure Dean at the moment, but she was going to talk about it later. Fun.

Dean watched her climb the tree and etch Zachariah’s name out. She lounged by Dean and they sat there in silence, watching the sun go down.

That was when a small silver parachute came from the sky.

“Grab it!” Dean said.

Jess hopped up and over, looking down at the parachute in confusion.

“Who’s it from?” Dean asked.

Jess opened it up and her eyes grew wide, before turning to Dean in shock.

“What?” Dean asked, more alert now, sitting up a little further.

“It’s…” Jess’ voice almost broke. “It’s from District 10.”

“What?” Dean asked again. Sending a parachute to a different District was _unheard_ of. “You’re kidding.”

“Look!” Jess brought over the parachute and tipped it to show Dean. “Meat and a small container of milk. It’s 10. It has to be. 12 would never send this stuff.”

“Wow.” Dean said looking up at Jess, whose eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He looked up at the sky and gave a small smile. “Thank you.” He said, hoping it was towards the cameras.

There was no way Dean or Jess were going to ever forget about Charlie now.

“I’ll make a fire and cook something up.” Jess said.

Dean started to protest, but got a look from Jess.

It stopped Dean, but he grumbled about it.

 

That night Jess said that she was going to take first shift. That Dean should get some sleep and that she would check on him in a few hours because of the concussion.

“I’m fine!” Dean insisted.

“Sure you are.” Jess scoffed. “Now fucking go to sleep.” She ordered, a commanding tone in her voice.

“Fine.” Dean sighed, not wanting to get in an argument. He quickly fell asleep and Jess carefully positioned him so that he wouldn’t fall off the tree in his sleep.


	14. It's Time For A Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is injured and Jess becomes a mother hen, trying to check up on him. Also the Capitol gives the remaining eight tributes a surprise held at the Cornucopia and a few more tributes die, but what else is new?

When the sun rose the next day, Dean woke up freaked. He had slept the entire fucking night. He turned to Jess to see her asleep as well.

“Jess!” He said gruffly. “Jess, wake the fuck up!”

She woke with a start and turned to Dean rubbing her eyes tiredly. “What?” She asked.

“You fucking let me sleep the entire night!” Dean said annoyed.

“Yeah.” She said, like he had four heads. “You have a concussion, you’re not staying up.”

“Well, you’re obviously not gonna stay up all night. I mean, I just woke you up for crying out loud.”

“I stayed up as late as I could, then I went to bed.” Jess said. “I told you, I’m not fucking waking you up when you have a concussion. Now climb down the damn tree, we have to look at the damn snares.”

 

They worked quietly. They had only caught a rabbit, but neither really cared. Dean stewed by the tree he was sitting at, the dull throb in the back of his head a constant thing.

It was a little hard for him to walk, he always ended up dizzy now and then. Jess eyed him, while she added another tally on the branch.

“What?” Dean asked, more annoyed than he probably meant. Or maybe he meant to be that angry. Who knew.

“I’m thinking I should take a look at your head.” Jess said.

“Just leave me be. I’ll be fine.” Dean said.

“You got a concussion yesterday. It’s probably a good idea to make sure you’ll be alright.”

“I am alright!” Dean argued. “I'm just fucking peachy!”

“Fine.” Jess said, standing up. “Walk over to me, then back to the tree. If you walk normally, then I’ll leave you be. But I swear to god, if you lose your fucking balance, I’m looking at the back of your head.”

“Fine.” Dean growled, getting up. Jess looked at him with critical eyes, watching him stand. He was probably slower than she liked. Dean took a step forward, and another.

He had gotten half-way to Jess when he almost lost his balance. _Almost._

“I didn’t lose it.” He argued. Jess shut her mouth from whatever she was going to say. Dean managed to get a few more steps before he completely lost his balance, and went crashing to the ground. “Fuck.” He muttered.

“I fucking told you.” Jess said, coming over and crouching by Dean’s head, pulling him upwards into a sitting position. Dean grumbled names and swear words under his breath while Jess started poking and prodding at Dean’s head.

“Fuck! Do you not know how to be careful?” He asked when Jess hit a particularly tender spot.

“It hurts there?” Jess asked.

“Kinda.” Dean muttered, crossing his arms. It felt like he was 5 and Jess was looking at a small cut he got. Only he had a concussion.

Jess’ fingers brushed against the area again, softer this time, and Dean winced, feeling the lump he had on the back of his head.

“Bet that hurts. Have you ever gotten a concussion before?” Jess asked.

“No.” Dean said.

“Well you need to be careful, or you’ll make everything worse.”

Dean felt Jess pull his hair aside and he winced, feeling the hair tugging on the lump.

“You have a cut.” She said. _How ironic, she_ was _looking at a cut._ Dean felt Jess shift behind him and he heard her canteen open. Then a ripping sound filled the air and Dean heard Jess pout some of the water onto a piece of fabric.

“What the fuck are you-OW!” Dean yelled.

“Stop being a baby.” Jess muttered. “I’m cleaning your goddamn cut so it won’t get infected. We sleep in a tree and god knows what bacteria and germs are on it.” Jess said, wiping at the lump.

“You’re so not cut out to be a nurse.” Dean said.

“Well, I’m all you have right now, so deal with it.” Jess said, finishing cleaning up the wound. She placed him aside and got up. “You need to take it easy.” Jess said.

“I can’t. Maybe you’ve forgotten where we are.” Dean said motioning around.

“Well I’m not going to let you do much.” Jess scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Really? You and whose army?” Dean asked mockingly.

“I don’t need an army.” Jess mimicked his voice. “Besides, you’re not at 100%, so I won’t have to try as hard. I can deal with stuff, you just chill against your dumb tree.” Jess said, tossing the wet fabric by the packs.

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he scooted back to the tree without arguing more. Jess gave him a smug grin and Dean countered it with a face.

He picked up a branch and started to whittle it with his knife, still pretty annoyed.

That was when a voice went off in the sky.

 

“Attention, all remaining tributes.” The voice said. It was weird to hear a voice that wasn’t Jess. “There is a feast being hosted at the Cornucopia. Each of the remaining Districts has a bag waiting there for them with supplies. Congratulations on being in the top eight. May the odds be ever in your favor.” The voice ended.

“The Careers must’ve not been there if they got the stuff at the Cornucopia.” Jess said.

“We need to go.” Dean said, starting to get up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. You’re staying right here, I’ll get the stuff.”

“What!? Are you insane? What if you get attacked? I won’t be able to help you.”

“You’re more of a liability than a help.” Jess said, walking over to him and gently pushing him back towards the tree. “So you stay here.” She said firmly.

“I’m. Going.” Dean said.

Jess sighed and Dean thought she was giving in. Then her fist flew and he was punched square in the face, getting knocked out cold.

“You’re staying.” Jess said, getting up and leaving.

 

She went through the river to get to the Cornucopia, which was probably a really stupid idea, but it was too late now. She was drenched by the time she managed to sneak behind a tree and see the Cornucopia.

Sure enough there were six bags for the six remaining Districts. She was about to go out when she saw one of the other girls, Jody, pop out. “District 4.” She whispered to herself. “Jody.”

Jody grabbed her pack and started taking off, when she got jumped by District 9’s tribute, Raphael. Jody screamed in fear and tried to defend herself with her pack, but Raphael got the better of her, and clawed at her, ripping the pack away, then tackling her to the ground, viciously beating at her until she stopped screaming.

Jess felt bile rise up in her, but she forced it back down, pulling out her knife. Raphael went back into the woods with Jody’s pack as the cannon went off. He was waiting to ambush someone else. Jess wasn’t going to let that happen.

She circled around in the woods until she was going to come up behind Raphael.

 

Raphael was waiting patiently in the woods, watching for movement of another tribute to come out and retrieve their pack. He was far too gone to care about the wrongness of killing, as long as he survived.

He didn’t hear the girl sneak up behind him.

 

Jess inched closer and closer to Raphael, eyeing the pack he had in his hand. Seeing how Jody was dead just 15 feet away, she wasn’t going to need it anymore. And neither would Raphael.

She raised the knife in her hand, aiming for his heart, and she plunged it down into him. He screamed and twisted, trying to turn. Jess kept as strong of a grip as she could have on the knife, so it twisted and turned when Raphael moved. She pulled the knife out and plunged it in again, this time it landing in Raphael’s arm. She pulled it out and struck at his chest, twisting the knife sharply.

Raphael screamed one more time then dropped, cannon firing before he hit the ground.

Jess pulled out her knife, picked up the pack and ran at full force grabbing her own District’s bag, and District 9’s bag.

Then she took off back to the camp site.

 

By the time she got back, Dean was starting to come to. He had the beginnings of a bruise appearing on the left side of his face, where Jess had decked him.

He squinted at Jess and groaned, rubbing the spot gingerly.

“You pack a punch.” He muttered, sitting up further.

“Thanks.” Jess smiled. “Two more tributes died. Jody from 4, and Raphael from 9. Raphael killed Jody and I killed him. So I took their bags and ran.”

“Smart.” Dean nodded slowly. “Let’s see what goodies we have.”

“Already on it.” Jess said, dropping the tree packs on the ground, sitting with Dean, opening the packs. “Looks like the final eight became the final six."

 

Dean and Jess had blankets, and matches to start fires with, along with more food and completely fresh water, along with purifiers for the canteens. They had other things like medicine to help heal cuts, which Jess applied to the back of Dean’s head, despite his protest of doing it himself. There were also weapons, which would help Dean and Jess in the long run. They sorted out their goodies and placed them in the different packs, remembering what went in where.

“We hit the fucking gold mine.” Dean said proudly.

“That we did, Dean.” Jess nodded. “I think tonight calls for a celebration.”

 

Sam watched Jess and Dean talk proudly of the things that they managed to acquire. It was hard to watch the boy from 9 kill the girl, and Jess kill him. In fact, it was slightly disgusting, seeing the look on Jess’ face as she killed him, but Sam wouldn't think on that.

Right now, he would just be glad that Dean and Jess would be able to survive longer, and he laughed that Dean was still being stubborn Dean when it came to him getting injured.

Jess didn’t seem like the most careful person when it came to helping people get better, but hey, she was trying.

“She’s such a mother hen.” Benny said, watching on with Sam.

“She is, but that may not be so bad.” Sam shrugged, watching them begin to eat. The camera switched to the girl from 6 grabbing her pack and running off. Then the Careers came out and retrieved their packs, arguing. It seemed all they did now was argue, and Sam was positive that if they didn’t stop, Gordon was going to kill the other tributes.

“How long do you think the Careers will last?” Benny asked.

“Not long if they keep the arguing up.” Sam scoffed.

“Agreed.” Benny said.


	15. Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Jess meet Ruby. She seems OK, and they let her stay. But not everything is as it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this chapter had taken forever to be put up. I was literally stuck, sitting trying to figure out the order of who was going to get killed off, and how everything was going to go down. There will probably be 3 or 4 more chapters before I can finally wrap everything up. It's been fun writing this, and I really hope everyone has been enjoying it.

That night Dean and Jess celebrated over their new supplies.

Dean raised his canteen and Jess tapped her own canteen on it. “Congrats to us.” She said with a smirk. “For making it this long.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Dean chuckled. They took a swig of water and laughed. It wasn’t alcohol, but who cared?

Dean raised his canteen again. “Congrats to you, for being kick-ass enough to knock me out and go retrieve our prizes.” They tapped canteens again and took another swig.

“In memory of Charlie.” Jess said raising her canteen. “May she rest in peace wherever she is.”

“Here, here.” Dean nodded. Another tap and swig.

“To all the other tributes who lost their lives.” Dean said.

Jess nodded and they tapped canteens.

 

After a few more taps and swigs, they stilled, talking now and then, but mostly staring off into space.

“Do you think our families are going to start getting interviewed soon?” Jess asked.

“Probably tomorrow, honestly.” Dean said.

Jess nodded, and the Capitol emblem showed in the sky.

“Jody.” Jess said, seeing the girl. “Raphael.” The boy she killed.

“We can put the names up tomorrow. It’ll be day…14.” Dean said, looking at the branch. “Congrats for day 14.” Dean said, raising his canteen and taking a swig. Jess repeated the process and leaned back against the tree she was sitting by.

 

Jess was the first to fall asleep, despite her wishes that Dean should first. He looked around in the dark, listening to the crickets chirp. A Mockingjay came out and starting singing a tune. It was three notes that Charlie had made the first night they heard the Mockingjays.

Dean listened to it with a sad smile. It hurt to think about Charlie, but he was going to do everything he could to keep Charlie’s memory alive.

Dean laid there in the darkness, thoughts on Charlie and the little Mockingjay.

 

He had gotten a better sleep that night than any other night. He woke to see Jess up the other tree, etching out the two names under the growing list of tributes.

“Hey.” He said.

“Hey.” She said, turning her head to see Dean climbing down the tree. “Just adding names.”

“Yeah, I see that. I’m gonna take a morning piss and then we can get some breakfast started.”

“Alright.” Jess said, finishing up the carving and climbing down the tree.

Dean left to a tree far enough Jess couldn’t see him and relieved himself before heading back to their camp site. He was almost there when he lost his balance and managed to catch himself on a tree.

“Dean!” Jess said running over. “Dean, are you alright.”

“Peachy.” He said through gritted teeth, holding his head, hoping the forest would stop spinning. He shut his eyes and waited it out.

When it finally stopped, he slowly walked back to the tree, Jess directly behind him every step of the way.

“Jess, I’m fine.” Dean muttered.

“No you’re not.” Jess said. “You’re injured and you refuse to take it easy.”

“Well does it really look like we can take it ‘easy’ right now? We’re in the top six of the Games, Jess. _Six._ We take it easy and we’re dead.” Dean said, climbing the tree to grab the bag with food in it. He brought it down and started pulling things out for him and Jess to eat.

“Fine.” Jess said. “But that doesn’t mean that I won’t try to help you.”

“Whatever. Let’s just eat some breakfast, alright?” Dean muttered.

 

Dean and Jess were about done with breakfast when Dean saw something in the woods. His knife was out in an instant and he scanned the area, eyes narrowed.

“Show yourself!” Dean yelled.

Jess became alert and pulled out her own knife, looking around.

“Show yourself!” Dean repeated, getting up. Jess stood as well. “It’s not going to be a good idea to make me come in there after you if you don’t fucking show yourself!”

A girl around Dean’s age came out of the woods. She had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Her hands were held up in peace and she eyed the knives that Jess and Dean were wielding.

“I’m not trying to hurt you or steal anything. I was passing by and heard voices. That’s all I swear.” She said.

“Right.” Dean said sarcastically. “Who are you?”

“Ruby. District 6.” She said innocently. “You’re from 12, right? Both of you?”

“Yeah.” Jess said warily. They were this far in the Games, it was hard to trust anyone outside their camp.

“Look, I don’t want trouble, I swear.” Ruby promised. “I was passing through. The Careers were in my spot yesterday after the feast, and I had to move, even lost my pack trying to get out. When I heard voices, I had to see what was happening. I won’t hurt you guys. I’ll be on my way.”

“Stay right there, don’t think about moving.” Dean snarled. He walked away from Ruby and motioned to Jess.

 

“What do you think of her?” Dean muttered, eyeing the girl who still hadn’t lowered her hands.

“I don’t know. If the Careers found her, she wouldn’t have gotten out alive, so I don’t think she’s with them.” Jess shrugged.

“Does she look like she would attack us in our sleep?” Dean asked.

“No. She looks pretty well off.” Jess said. They eyed Ruby again and Dean sighed.

“I don’t trust her. But, if she’s trying to play keep away from the Careers…”

“Should we?” Jess asked. “I don’t mind bring someone else on our little rag-tag team, but if she turns out to be insane or something…”

“I know.” Dean said shortly. He turned to Ruby and walked over to her. “You can stay with us, if you wish. But if you do anything that even _hints_ at betrayal, and I fucking mean any-goddamn-thing, I will personally rip you to shreds.” Dean said.

“Understood.” Ruby nodded, lowering her hands slowly.

“Have you had anything to eat?” Jess asked.

“A little.” She admitted.

“Eat then.” Dean said. “God knows we have enough to share.”

 

Sam watched the exchange between Dean, Jess, and Ruby. He didn’t completely trust Ruby. There was something off about her. But that wasn’t important right now. He was going to get interviewed about Dean and life at District 12 soon, and he was told to dress nice for it.

Sam thought back to over two weeks ago – _has it really been a little over two weeks?_ – and how he dressed somewhat decently for the Reaping. God, it seemed so long ago…

Sam shook his head, and focused on the present, watching Jess bring some food over to Ruby, and Ruby begin to eat, gratefully. He would ask Benny his opinion about Ruby later.

 

Dean, Jess, and Ruby sat around talking about different things, until Ruby brought something up.

“What are we going to do about the Careers? There are still 3 of them out there and last I knew, after seeing you guys in the Training Center, the guy from 1 is after your head.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Dean said. “We need to take them down one by one. You have to be crazy to try to take them all out at once.”

“So…how do we do that?” Jess asked.

“Find them, wait ‘til one gets alone, then strike.” Dean said. “Sound like a plan?”

“As good of a plan that’ll ever happen.” Ruby shrugged.

“What will happen if we manage to kill them all off?” Jess asked.

Dean stayed silent, while he looked at Jess.

“I don’t know.” He admitted quietly.

 

That night, while the two girls slept, Dean thought about what would happen if it was just the three of them left. He would run. He would run until he couldn’t anymore. He knew he would never be able to kill Jess, and if this Ruby chick was really OK, then he wouldn’t be able to kill her off either.

God, he hated his life right now.

 

When Dean woke up the next day, Jess and Ruby were gone. He climbed down the tree and looked around, not seeing either of them.

He made the call and waited for a response. From the distance, he heard Jess and he smiled. He started making a breakfast while he waited for the return of the girls and he made another mark on the stick. 15 days.

15 days since he’s been in these damn Games. 15 days since his life became hell. _No. This is nothing compared to how it would be and how it would feel to see Sammy here instead of me._

Dean sighed and leaned on the tree, looking around at the trees and sky, really noticing the beauty of the forest, even if it was an Arena to kill children.

Jess came walking back from the forest. Ruby wasn’t with her, and that’s what put Dean’s brain on red alert.

“Where’s Ruby?” Dean asked. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so hard to kill Ruby after all.

“I don’t know. She was asleep when I left.” Jess said. “We never taught her the call, so don’t freak out yet. We’ll find her.”

“Find her?” Dean scoffed. “Check the packs.” He said.

“Dean…” Jess sighed.

“Check them! If this bitch stole from us or something…” Dean looked around and sighed. “Ruby!” He yelled.

He listened to Jess climb the tree and began to look at the packs.

“Ruby!” Dean called again. _Where the fuck are you?_

He was about to call her name again, when she came running up from the river.

Jess popped up beside him and mumbled, “Everything is there. Look her hair is wet, she was bathing. See? Everything is fucking fine.”

Ruby looked at Dean and Jess with wide eyes, ringing her hair. “I’m sorry!” She said. “I should have done something to show you that I was out.”

“No…it’s…it’s fine.” Dean sighed. “Listen, if you ever go out again, you should learn the tune we have.” Dean said. He did the five notes and watched Ruby repeat it.

“If you hear that, call back to us with it. Same goes if one of us are out. You don’t know where we are, you give the signal.”

Ruby nodded. “Right. Sorry.” She said.

“No. Whatever. Let’s just eat.” Dean said, motioning to the food he made.

“Right. Thanks.” Ruby said, sitting down with the other two tributes and beginning to eat.

 

No. No. No. No.

Sam looked at Dean and Jess on the TV with wide, fearful eyes. Benny was sitting by him, with the same expression.

Ruby was a liar. Ruby was a fake. Ruby was going to get them killed.

Ruby had been talking with the Careers.

 

_“Have you found them?” Gordon asked._

_“Yeah, I did.” Ruby nodded. “They’re fucking on the other side of the river.”_

_“Then why didn’t you tell us last night?” He growled._

_“Because they fucking take turns keeping watch at night.” Ruby had growled back. “They’re gonna plan a way to take you guys down one by one.” She informed._

_“Lucifer.” Gordon turned to the other male. “You wanna be bait later today?”_

_“Sure.” He smiled. “Wouldn’t mind finally offing the bitch from 12. But of course, Dean is yours.” Lucifer had said._

_“Fucking right.” Gordon nodded._

_The faint yelling of ‘Ruby’ could be heard._

_“Fuck.” Ruby said. “I better get back before they decide to kill me. And without me, you people would be completely lost.” She smiled._

_Ruby ran away and Gordon gave a scary grin._

_“That doesn’t mean anything when we gut you.” He whispered to the wind._


	16. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group talk about strategies to take down the Careers. Jess isn't totally comfortable about hunting them down, like Ruby offered, but Dean say it's their best bet. They leave, beginning to track the Careers, when they get jumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another death in this chapter. But when is that surprising?

After breakfast, the group talked about different ways to get the Careers separated.

“Stalk them. Hunt them down. You _do_ know how to do that, right?” Ruby asked.

Dean tried not to take offense to that. Ruby had no idea how he grew up, so he took a breath and said through gritted teeth, “Yeah. I do, actually.”

“Would that be a good idea?” Jess asked. “If we’re not careful…”

“We will be.” Ruby flashed a smile. “We just need to stay smart and alert.” She shrugged. “Why not just do it now?” She asked. “At least see what they’re doing. We don’t even have to do anything crazy, like kill one. Just stalk them, like the prey they are.”

Jess shifted around uncomfortably. “I still don’t think this is a good idea…maybe if we send a scout or something…”

“Why bother? They’re gonna die anyway.” Ruby shrugged. “So let’s just go.”  She got up. “Honestly, I bet we’re better off than the Careers right now. And any advantage we have over the Careers is one we should take.”

“Ruby’s right.” Dean said. “If we got an advantage, it would really help us. We’ll keep our stuff here, hidden well in the trees.” Dean got up, climbing the tree and bringing the packs up higher. Happy with his work, he climbed back down.

Jess and Ruby were standing, and Jess was shifting around uncomfortably.

“Jess.” Dean said. “This is just a scout. Nothing is gonna happen.”

Jess gave an uncertain nod, and followed after Ruby and Dean.

 

They had been walking for a little while, without seeing anyone.

“So Dean, can you tell me that note thing again in case I leave without you guys knowing?”

“Yeah.” Dean nodded. He whistled out the five notes and listened as Ruby repeated it.

“Thanks.” Ruby smiled.

“Yeah, no problem.” Dean said, keeping his eyes on their surroundings, listening to any little noise that could possibly be one of the Careers.

 

“I’m bored.” Lucifer whined.

“Shut up.” Gordon said, losing patience with the District 3 boy.

Lucifer groaned and leaned against a tree. Gordon was thinking about the different ways to kill Lucifer when Bela came over to them with a wicked smile.

“I heard them. They’re coming.” She said.

“Finally.” Lucifer said, standing straight up. “Show time, lady and gent.” He walked off in the area Bela came from.

 

Dean stopped, taking a breath and looking around. He was about to take another step when he lost his balance.

“Motherfucker.” He muttered, catching himself on a tree.

“Dean, are you OK?” Jess said, rushing over to him.

“Yeah, just fine.” Dean said, pushing himself away from the tree, running a hand down his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” Ruby asked.

“He has a concussion. We were jumped back at camp, and he was tossed against a tree.” Jess said. “I was afraid that this would happen.”

“I don’t care.” Dean said, pushing away from Jess. “I’ll be OK.”

“You’ll get killed like this.” Jess said.

“I won’t.” Dean growled. He took a few more steps before freezing and motioning for the girls to be quiet.

 _What?_ Jess mouthed.

“Career.” Dean said, motioning. He moved back and the group hid behind the trees.

He peered out and watched movement of blond hair. He looked at Jess and held up three fingers.

 _District 3. Lucifer._ Jess mouthed.

Dean nodded silently, and watched the Career. It seemed like he was looking around for food, something that wasn’t there.

He sighed and turned to leave.

Dean slowly walked out from behind the tree, and motioned for the girls to follow him.

He stalked after Lucifer, keeping his distance, but making sure that he could always keep an eye on the teen.

Before he could take another step, he started to collapse before Jess and Ruby caught him.

His head shot up and he looked around, not seeing Lucifer.

“Fuck.” He muttered. He pulled away from the girls and started to go after Lucifer, heading into the area he was last at.

“Dean.” Jess whispered.

Dean didn’t respond and continued his trek after the Career.

“Dean! You need to be careful.” Jess hissed.

“Yeah, Dean.” Said a cold voice. The voice was male, and Dean’s blood ran like ice. “You need to be more careful.”

Dean turned and was staring straight at Gordon.

 

“No!” Sam was screaming. Not like it would help. Benny was trying to hold him down. Sam was thrashing and crying, screaming at the TV. “No! Dean! NO!”

John ran over and wrapped his arms around his son, who was still struggling.

_Dean was going to die. Ruby betrayed them. Dean was going to die. Dean was going to die._

“No!” Sam sobbed, slowly giving up the struggle he had. Mary was crying. John was crying. Hell, even Benny was crying.

 _You have to be strong._ Dean’s words came back into Sam’s head. Those words seemed like they were told to him so long ago…

Sam slowly calmed down and froze in John’s arms.

“Dean. Will. Make. It. Out. Alive.” Sam said firmly, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. “He’ll survive.”

John just cradled Sam in his arms, needing the contact more than Sam at the moment.

 

“Gordon.” Dean said. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Bela appear, and from behind he heard Lucifer walk over. “So this was all a trap?” He asked, glancing over at Ruby for a split second.

“What Ruby?” Gordon asked. “Yeah, the stupid bitch was a trap for you guys.”

“Stupid?” Ruby scoffed. “I fucking found them for you guys.” She said.

“Please, Ruby.” Gordon rolled his eyes, refusing to take them away from Dean. “We could have found them in our sleep. Finding you was just the icing on the cake. Use you, find them, kill the three of you together.”

“Why you ass-” Ruby said, beginning to advance on Gordon. Bela grabbed her, keeping a tight grip on her as Lucifer grabbed Jess.

“Dean!” She shrieked, and Dean made the mistake of turning. Gordon grabbed him and spun him around, pulling his left arm viciously. Dean felt the pain before he heard the snap of his arm breaking. He cried out loudly and Jess struggled to get free, crying out to let Dean go.

“Sorry, 12.” Gordon said over to Jess. “Not gonna happen.”

Dean’s eyes turned to Ruby, who was fighting against the hold Bela had on her.

“Look Ruby.” Dean chuckled through the pain. “You’re gonna die too.” You thought you would be safe?” He laughed. Gordon twisted his broken arm, and Dean’s face twisted into pain for a second, before he covered it up, and laughed again. “They’re Careers. They fucking betray you. That’s just what they do. But me and Jess? We wouldn’t have betrayed you like this.” Dean said. “I will personally enjoy killing you.” Dean said.

“Bud, you aren’t going to be alive for that long.” Gordon said. “Lucifer.”

Lucifer nodded and pulled out a scary looking knife. Dean’s eyes grew and he started to fight again. Fuck the pain in his arm.

“No!” He yelled. “No! Jess!”

Jess started to fight against Lucifer as she watched the knife rise into her view.

“None of that.” Lucifer said. “It’ll just make it worse.”

Jess whimpered, giving one final tug for freedom.

Nothing.

“Dean…” She said, staring at him with tears running down her face. “I’ll tell Charlie you said hi.” And with that, the knife was plunged into Jess’ gut, and twisted violently upwards, a terrifying grin on Lucifer’s face. Blood began pouring out of Jess’ body.

 

The cannon went off and Lucifer pulled his knife out, letting the body drop to the ground.

Ruby made a choked noise. Sounded like she was gagging.

Dean turned to look at Ruby to see her face tinged green. Her breakfast came up and all over the ground.

Disgusted, Bela jerked back, loosening her grip on Ruby.

Ruby managed to pull away and she ran.

“You stupid bitch!” Gordon roared. Dean realized his chance and he took it. He stomped down on Gordon’s foot, making him howl in pain. Dean managed to get loose enough to turn and knee Gordon right in the dick and balls.

“Not like you’ll need them anyway.” Dean said. And with that, he ran, ignoring the nausea that was beginning to climb in him.

He didn’t stop running until he was back at the campsite that he and Jess had lived at.

When he got there, he threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach to push out.

After that, it was a lot of dry heaving.

 

Once he managed to stop, he looked up, making sure there was no one around. He wasn’t going to be jumped anymore.

He didn’t care anymore. Jess was dead. Charlie was dead. And if he wasn’t fast or smart enough, he would be dead too.

Painfully, he climbed the tree, pushing out all the packs. When he got back down, he put the parachutes in the food pack and put it on. Dean put a few weapons on his body. All of the other packs went down the river. He wouldn’t need them anymore.

He wasn’t planning on staying in this damn Arena for much longer anyway.

He looked up at the tree with all the names on them. They were the only names that mattered now. Dean climbed up it and added Jess’ name with them, before quickly memorizing the list. He wasn’t going to forget any of them. Especially Charlie and Jess.

Dean climbed down the tree and began walking in a random direction. He had to get out of here before the Careers could find him.

He had a personal mission to do.

He was going to find Ruby.

And he was going to kill her.


	17. Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jess is dead. Dean escapes from the Careers and begins the hunt for the remaining tributes, starting with Ruby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More deaths. Dean is also darker in this chapter, but if you lost everyone that you cared about (plus seeing them die), I think you'd be pissed too.

It was the worst thing to see Jess die. Everyone in the room seemed to freeze as they watched the screen in horror.

Then Ruby had gotten free, and so did Dean, and they took off in the opposite directions.

They watched Dean head back to the trees, taking the food and some weapons. He was in pain, Sam could see it on his face. But Dean had a steel look on his face and that was one Sam recognized. Dean had it when he volunteered. He had it when Charlie got hurt. That face was one of the scariest ones Dean had. When Dean had that face, it meant that nothing was going to stop him.

 

Dean tore through the forest, bent on hunting Ruby down. She was somewhere…that he knew.

He growled, his knife secure in his good hand. He didn’t give a fuck about his broken arm. He didn’t give a fuck about his concussion.

The bitch was going down.

He walked for what seemed like miles. He wasn’t sure where he was, and honestly, he didn’t really care.

Dean stopped and leaned against a tree, putting his knife away and taking a huge drink of water from his canteen. He looked down at his broken arm, and realized a second to soon that doing that was a mistake.

He almost threw up the water that he just ingested, but somehow managed to keep it down. Now that the adrenaline was leaving, Dean began to realize how much his arm hurt.

“Fuck.” He hissed, trying to turn it. He put his canteen away and took a hold of his knife again, continuing his hunt.

 

By the time it’s nightfall, Dean still hasn’t found any trace of Ruby. He ate a light dinner and climbs into a tree, watching the sky as the Capitol symbol came up and Jess’ face showed.

Dean begins to mutter all the tributes names that were on the tree. He repeated them five times before he dozed off.

 

It was still dark when Dean woke up. All he could hear were the soft chirps of crickets, but that was alright by him.

Carefully, he climbed down the tree, and looked around, his eyes growing adjusted to the darkness. He drew his blade, and started his hunt for Ruby again.

 

Ruby was fucking terrified. She couldn’t sleep at all. She managed to escape from the Careers, but so did Dean. And if the Careers didn’t get to her, then Dean would. Unless she managed to stay hidden and play keep away well enough.

“Fuck.” She muttered, stubbing her toe in the darkness.

It had to be past midnight. Ruby looked up in the sky and saw the twinkling stars and half moon shining back at her.

She continued moving, terrified that if she stopped, she would die.

 

The sun was rising and Dean hadn’t stop moving. Every sound he heard set him on edge. He wasn’t going to fuck anything up anymore. He was getting out of these damn Games.

He started muttering the list of dead tributes to himself when he heard a snap of a branch.

Dean froze and waited patiently, using the years of experience from hunting in the woods with Benny.

Silence…silence…silence…soft hesitant footsteps.

Dean smiled. Whoever was moving thought it was safe.

Sucked for them.

 

_Fuck up. You’re a fuck up. Fuck up. You’re a fuck up._

The words repeated through Ruby’s head.

“Stepping on a twig doesn’t make me a fuck up.” She said to herself.

“Really?” Came a voice. _That voice._ “Because I think it makes you a big fuck up. But then, so does betraying me and my friend and getting her killed for it.” Dean appeared from the trees and Ruby’s eyes widened in fear.

“Dean…” She whimpered, taking a few steps back.

“You're going to start begging now? Really? _Fuck you._ You’re the reason Jess is dead.” Dean said, pointing his knife at Ruby. “ _You_. Jess didn’t deserve to die.” He growled. He ignored the fact that he could feel the burning tears forming in his eyes. He ignored the fact that they were sliding down his face. He ignored the fact that Ruby was crying too. “But you didn’t care. Survival of the fittest, you know? And I’m telling you here and now, Jess deserved to live more than you.” He lunged at her, and Ruby took off.

He ran after her. Fury, adrenaline, and misery keeping him fueled in his chase. He caught up to her and pinned her to the ground. Ruby screamed for mercy as Dean held the knife up to her neck.

“No.” Dean growled. “You might have gotten mercy if you told me and Jess what was happening with the Careers. But you didn’t. You lied. You betrayed.” He pressed the blade further, watching red pearls of blood begin to well. “So you deserve to die.” He slit her throat quickly, listening to the cannon fire off.

He got up from the dead body and took a few steps back.

He started heaving again, collapsing on the ground, yelling in pain as he hit his bad arm.

Dean laid there for a few minutes, sobbing and heaving up the little food in his stomach. Fuck everyone if they judged seeing him like this. He couldn’t give two shits anymore.

 

When he finally managed to control himself, he walked away slowly, cradling his broken arm. Ruby was dead. That left him and the Careers, which Dean knew were going to be a bitch to kill.

He knew who he wanted to nab next though.

Next would be the bastard who’d plunged the knife, killing Jess. Lucifer.

 

The scream was far, but the Careers could hear it. The cannon fire happened soon after it.

“Did he just kill 6?” Bela asked.

“Sounds like.” Gordon shrugged. “He’s got balls, I’ll give him that.” Gordon’s hands subconsciously went to his own pair and he remembered what Dean did right when he escaped. “But 6’s death is the last kill he’ll make.”

“He’s going to be looking for us.” Lucifer said.

“He is. Which is why we’re going to make sure we’re found.” Gordon said. “We just need to keep a watch. It’s three against one.” He shrugged. “And once he have him, I’m going to peel the flesh off of his bones. His death is going to be one people remember for a _long_ time.”

 

While Dean walked he ran across a small bush of Nightlock. He remembered the trick with the parachute. The memory was painful to think of. Both Jess and Charlie were alive then. But maybe the trick would work again.

 After he pulled an empty parachute out, he filled it with Nightlock. He held the parachute limply in his bad hand and continued on.

 

Dean stopped a couple of times, refilling his canteen here, eating a thing or two there, but he never stayed still for long.

He wasn’t going to stop until he was out and home.

 

After wandering around for a few hours, he heard noise. This time, it was being made on purpose, unlike when he heard Ruby.

Dean climbed into a tree as fast as he could, gritting his teeth in pain and nausea. He held on to a tree branch with a good hand and looked around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.

South-west. There was more than one person. It was the Careers, it had to be. There was no one else.

Dean wanted to go to the noise. Sure he was hell-bend on wanting the Careers dead, but he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to go heads first into a trap, which was obviously what the Careers were doing.

So Dean moved stealthily, from tree to tree. He was going to keep an eye on the three of them, wait until one was alone, then he would strike.

 

“He’s not fucking coming.” Bela griped.

“How about you shut the fuck up before I make you?” Gordon growled. “He’ll come.”

“Whatever.” Bela sighed, rolling her eyes.

 

 _Please be careful Dean. Don’t get caught. Don’t get caught._ Sam was praying and watching the TV intently. Dean was slowly moving through the trees, a look of nausea and pain etched onto his face.

 _Just let him get out alive_.

 

Dean moved slower the closer he got to the sound. Sure enough, it was the Careers, talking loudly, crashing around in the forest. He followed them silently until they walked into the area where the Cornucopia was. Dean stopped and kept himself placed in the trees, watching them lounge around, bored.

The two tributes from District 1 were arguing. Dean wasn’t sure about, but they were pissed at each other.

That may make his job easier. Lucifer was ignoring the fighting and dozing off a little away from the bickering tributes.

Dean sighed. The only way he would get Lucifer was if he left to take a leak or something.

Slowly and carefully, Dean moved in the trees to the closest point he could get to Lucifer.

Now, he would have to wait.

 

Dean dozed off a few times, watching the Careers. Bela and Gordon were still fighting, mostly about small things, but they were still going at it.

Lucifer was getting pissed at the both of them and he rolled his eyes, annoyed.

“I’m taking a piss. Not that either of you care.” Lucifer got up and started walking towards the trees. More specifically, to where Dean was waiting.

Dean smiled, disappearing further into the trees, keeping a close eye on Lucifer.

He shifted the parachute to his good hand, making sure he could drop it realistically enough for Lucifer to be fooled.

 

Silently, he followed after Lucifer, who had moved far away enough from the Cornucopia that Dean couldn’t see Bela or Gordon. Lucifer started to relieve himself and Dean moved into a good position to drop the parachute.

Once Lucifer finished, he was about to turn away when Dean dropped the parachute, swiftly moving away to a different spot to watch Lucifer.

Lucifer noticed the parachute and looked at it curiously, before walking over and picking it up.

He opened the parachute, looking inside and seeing the berries. He smiled, and Dean knew that he had him.

Lucifer reached in and started eating the berries, shoveling them in his mouth as fast as he could.

Dean figured it would be a good time to drop out of the trees and stand in front of Lucifer.

“Little piggy decided not to share the berries with the other tributes, huh?” Dean asked, watching Lucifer eyes grow wide. “Well that’s a shame. One of them might have been able to warn you that you’re eating poisonous berries.” Lucifer’s eyes grew wider as he realized what Dean was talking about.

He opened his mouth to say something, scream maybe, but nothing came out. Then Lucifer went as pale as a ghost. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head, and he collapsed on the ground, cannon going off.

Dean ran as fast as he could.

 

The cannon went off, and Bela and Gordon stopped their argument.

“What the fuck?” Gordon said.

“Fuck. Lucifer.” Bela said, starting to dash into the woods to where Lucifer had left to pee. Gordon ran after her, and soon they came upon the dead body of the Career. There was a silver parachute by him, spilling out dark colored berries. “Fuck.” Bela muttered.

“What the fuck? Why would a parachute be sent if it _killed_ him?” Gordon asked.

“No. That’s fucking Nightlock.” Bela said, looking around. “And I bet that the parachute wasn’t sent by a sponsor. It was Dean.” Bela said. “I fucking told you he wasn’t going to fall for trap.”

“Fuck you.” Gordon said. “We need to get back to the Cornucopia.” Gordon growled. “Come on.” He said, keeping his eyes open for Dean.

 

Dean watched them leave.

Two down. Two to go.


	18. The Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is keeping a watch on Bela and Gordon while they argue, and he watches them get in a fight, with one of them dying. Benny and Sam have a bit of a heart-to-heart. Dean starts to prepare himself for a final fight with the remaining Career, so he can go back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is finally up! Took a little while (sorry about that). With how things are going, there is going to be one more chapter after this. Thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks, it means a lot :) I hope everyone's enjoyed the story.

Dean had worn himself out from his surprise jump on Lucifer. He probably shouldn’t have revealed himself to begin with, but he couldn’t help it. He had wanted Lucifer to know who killed him.

Instead of being in the trees, Dean was lounging behind a tree and some shrubbery, keeping a watchful look on the two remaining Careers. They were bickering again, and Dean knew that if they kept this up, one would end up killing the other.

God, that would make his job a hell of a lot easier.

 

As Dean watched the two tributes bicker, he mused what life back home would be like. How different it would be. He knew that after this, nothing would be the same. Ever.

But he would be with his family. He would be with his baby brother. And he would be able to take care of them.

That was all that mattered.

 

Sam was watching the TV, a slight numb feeling in his gut. Dean was hunting down the last remaining tributes. He’d already killed Ruby and now he killed Lucifer.

He was casually lying, hidden. Watching and waiting.

The two remaining careers were fighting over everything, and Sam knew that Dean was just waiting them out. Sooner or later, one of them would get completely fed up with the other, and there would just be one Career left.

By the looks of their heated arguments, it would happen soon.

Sam just hoped that Dean would be careful. He looked like shit, probably felt like it. He’s lost a lot of weight since the start of the Games. His eyes looked a little sunk, and the grimy dirty clothes he wore were starting to hang around him loosely. Plus, there was his arm which looked like it was starting to get infected.

_God, don’t let him have to lose it._

Benny plopped down by him. Benny hadn’t left Sam’s side since the Games started for Dean, and briefly Sam wondered what Dean and Benny talked about before he had gone in to see Sam.

“Do you think that Dean will need his arm removed?” Sam asked quietly.

“What? His broken one?” Benny asked, taken slightly off guard. Sam nodded, studying his brother.

“No.” Benny shook his head. Sam studied Benny's gaze and it seemed that Benny truly believed that. “It’s not that bad. Now, if half of his arm was discolored and gross looking…probably. But it’s just broken, and it looks like an infection is starting, something that can be fixed easily.”

“OK.” Sam nodded, accepting the explanation. “It’s going to be hard for him to do stuff when he comes back.”

“It is.” Benny nodded. “Sam, I want to tell you about what Dean and I do when we go out together.”

That peeked Sam’s interest and the young boy turned to face Benny.

“We go out to the woods. And we hunt.” Benny explained.

“That’s how Dean…?”

“Yep.” Benny nodded. “That’s how Dean knows how to do everything that he’s done in the Games. I know that you guys will be well off when Dean comes back, but I think that I’m still going to need help with hunting in the woods.”

“Isn’t hunting there illegal?”

“It is. But how do you think this place gets some of its meat?” Benny asked with a chuckle. “Dean’s gonna be held up with that arm, which makes me a man short.”

Sam realized what Benny was saying and his eyes grew. “You want me to hunt with you?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.” Benny nodded. “Once Dean gets better, I bet we all can go hunting.”

“You know…Dean would probably let you have some of the food that we get.”

Sam remembered that the winning tribute got food for life, and a house in Victor Square, where Cas lived.

“What?” Benny asked, taken off guard again.

“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “You and Dean are best friends. You're practically family to us. Dean would probably make sure your family is well off. You wouldn’t have to take tessera and neither would any of your brothers or sisters.”

Benny looked taken aback and shocked at what Sam said. He also looked touched. “Family doesn’t end in just blood, does it, Sam?” Benny said, pulling the younger boy closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Thanks for the offer, Sam. Not really sure how my parents would react to that. Dean would really do that?” Benny mused.

“Of course.” Sam said. “I think it would still be cool to learn how to hunt though.” He said with a small smile.

Benny laughed. “Hey, we’ll teach you. I promise.”

 

Night couldn’t have come soon enough.

Dean sighed, relieved. He looked up in the sky and watched Lucifer’s face in the sky, followed by Ruby’s.

Dean had managed to get up in the trees to keep a watch on the two Careers.

They had slowed in their arguing, but Dean figured it wouldn’t take much for them to start up again.

Suddenly, he heard Gordon’s loud voice. _Speak of the devil…_

Dean sighed and looked down at his arm in the darkness. He was pretty sure it was starting to get infected, and he groaned softly. His arm was already a hindrance with the fact that it was broken.

“Fuck this.” Dean muttered. He ripped his shirt, gross and torn. It probably wasn’t going to help much, but anything was good enough. He carefully wrapped it around the infection on his arm. After he was done, he actually studied his body. He was definitely skinnier than before. He’d lost some of the muscle he was getting from working out with Benny and hunting.

He faintly remembered that once he got back, he would never need to hunt again. He would have as much food as he wished. One of the perks of winning the Games. His family would be well off too, and Sammy would never need to worry about applying for tessera.

Sighing, Dean closed his eyes, not being able to help falling asleep.

 

He woke up to yelling. It was close, too close for comfort. Dean looked around wildly, and almost fell out of the tree, a strong wave of dizziness passing through him.

After managing to still his spinning head, he looked around and down, seeing Gordon and Bela arguing and walking back to the Cornucopia.

_Damn, they’re loud._

Dean watched silently, holding onto the branches tightly. Another wave of dizziness passed through him and he was getting serious vertigo from looking down at the two Careers.

_Don’t fucking puke. Don’t lose your dinner. You’re not getting caught. Not this far in the Games._

Dean was positive he was a interesting shade of green. He felt horrible and he could feel the acidic bile rising in his throat. He forced it back down and grimaced, shutting his eyes tightly. Once the Careers were in the Cornucopia, he would leave and throw up. But not now. Anything but now.

The Careers stopped and started arguing right under the tree Dean was perched in. _Fuck. Motherfucker. Go away. Get the fuck out of here. GO AWAY._

The vertigo wasn’t leaving, and Dean felt closer and closer to losing everything with each passing second. For a split second, he debated about puking on the Careers, but he would be fucked afterward, so he pushed the thought aside.

Bela’s voice rose, and Gordon’s followed.

Then he heard a slap and an angry growl. Eyes shooting open, Dean watched Bela and Gordon start to wrestle on the ground, throwing punches and kicks. He wasn’t sure who slapped who, but they were pissed. Bela’s face was fuming red, so he guessed thatordon insulted her and she was the one who’d done the slapping.

It looked like Bela was getting the upper hand until Gordon started pulling the move he had used on Dean to break his arm. He heard the snap and Bela screamed in pain.

_I know how you feel._

Gordon flipped Bela over and growled something to her before cutting her throat.

Only, the cannon didn’t go off. She was still alive, gasping for breath, eyes wide. They landed on Dean, and Dean’s eyes grew in slight fear. He was in no position to fight Gordon right now, so if Bela managed to inform Gordon before she died, Dean was completely and utterly fucked.

Only, she didn’t tell Gordon. Instead, she grabbed her throat and gaped like a fish, while Gordon got up and left. As soon as Gordon was far away enough, Dean shimmied down the tree and over to Bela, kneeling by her.

 

He glanced up and realized that a bush was blocking him.

“You didn’t tell.” Dean whispered out, turning back to Bela.

Bela shook her head, and was trying to take deep breaths, but they were coming out shallow and short. She was going to die soon.

She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but nothing was coming out. Dean glanced up again, feeling exposed even when he was hidden by the bush. Bela forced his head down to look at her again.

“K…Ki…” She tried to get out.

“Ki? Kill?” Dean asked.

She debated about the word, but then shook her head.

“Ki…Kick?” Dean asked. She nodded. “Kick, huh? Kick what? Kick Gordon?”

She nodded again.

“Ki…h…as…” She barely got out.

“Kick his ass?” Dean asked.

“Ye…” Bela nodded. “Fu…G…Gor…fu…hi…up.”

“Fuck Gordon up. Got it.” Dean nodded.

A smile appeared on Bela’s face and the cannon went off. Dean felt her pulse, even though he was sure he didn’t need to. She was dead.

The nausea came back and Dean managed to crawl five feet away before he threw up.

Once he stopped, he just crawled away, not having enough energy to stand and run.

 

Dean was on the lowest branch of a tree. He looked at the pack he had in his hands, it still had a nice amount of food in it, and Dean knew that since he and Gordon were the last tributes in the Games, this food would end up going to waste in just a few days. Only one of them was making it out alive in the Arena, and Dean was going to make sure it was him.

He sighed, looking around the woods. Soon, he would be back home. Soon, he wouldn’t have to worry about trying to stay alive every day. He wouldn’t miss this place. That he was sure of.

Dean leaned against the tree and realized just how tired he was. He was so goddamn tired. All he wanted to do was sleep, but now wasn’t the time for that. He could sleep for a week straight when he got home.

But right now…now was the time to focus on killing Gordon. He looked up, knowing a camera was catching him somewhere, and he gave a faint smile.

“I’m gonna be home soon Sammy, you just watch me.” He promised out loud.

With that, he dug into the food pack, eating an ample amount, so he could start gaining strength to go up against Gordon.

This was the calm before the storm.

 

Sam watched Dean sit in the tree.

“ _I’m gonna be home soon, Sammy, you just watch me._ ” Dean had promised. He started eating, and Sam knew that he was gaining energy.

“I can’t wait to see you Dean.” Sam smiled softly, yearning for his brother to come back home.


	19. End Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the final showdown between Gordon and Dean to see who's gonna come out on top.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! The story is done, and I hope that everyone has enjoyed it. Thanks for the kudos and bookmarks, it means a ton :)

Dean stayed hidden for the rest of the day, crawling far up into the tree to stay away from Gordon.

He could hear the other tribute moving around under him from time to time, muttering this or that.

Dean just relaxed, dozing off or eating.

 

That night, Dean watched Bela’s face appear in the sky. Tomorrow…tomorrow would be the day that he killed Gordon, and for once, ever since Dean got in these accursed Games, he felt ready.

 

Sam couldn’t sleep. Neither could John or Mary. They kept waking up, paying attention to the TV. Benny had decided to stay over for the night as well, so he was awake with Sam.

On the TV, it went back and forth from Dean to Gordon, sometimes bringing up the highlights of the Games. The two announcers talked nonstop about the two surviving tributes, stacking the odds and trying to figure out who was going to come out alive from this.

“We just know this one thing.” One of the announcers said. “This will be a Game that no one will forget for a very long time.”

“That’s the understatement of the year.” Benny scoffed.

“No kidding.” Sam nodded.

 

Dean never slept long. He kept waking up, antsy for the next day.

To try to get rid of some of the nerves, he climbed down from the tree, walking around slowly. He ate the rest of the food from the pack, and tossed it in a bush. He pulled out his weaponds weapons, and started practicing with them, pretending he was fighting Gordon, dodging this way and that, slashing at the air and staying surprisingly light on his feet.

It helped a little and Dean smiled. He started walking and went over to the edge of the woods surrounding the Cornucopia.

Gordon was there, moving around himself, keeping himself awake and alert.

They both were going to be on their A-game for this fight. Dean took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. This was going to be a fight to remember. He disappeared back into the woods, beginning to mutter the list of tributes names.

He fell asleep in the trees with Charlie’s name on his lips.

 

Dean woke up in darkness. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. Dean looked around, panicking. It was still dark. The sun should have started to come up already.

After a few moments, he realized what was happening. The Capitol was fucking with him and Gordon, keeping the two tributes in darkness. Probably making the Games more interesting or some stupid shit.

Which meant that it was time to go home. Dean shimmied down the tree and took a few deep breaths. He armed himself and started to prowl around the woods, like he was hunting some big game with Benny.

He was almost to the edge of the woods when he really thought about what he was going to do. He was about to kill someone. A complete and utter douchebag, yes, but an actual human being.

Dean shook his head, and pushed the thought away. This douchebag was going to kill him. Kill or be killed, survival of the fittest.

And Dean was going to prove that he was coming out on top.

 

When he stepped to the edge, he studied the Cornucopia carefully. Gordon was nowhere to be seen.

_Shit._

Dean’s defenses automatically rose, and he listened to anything that could give where Gordon was. There was nothing, and that worried Dean more than anything.

He looked around and scanned the immediate area, trying to see if Gordon was anywhere.

The snap of a branch gave the other tribute away, and Dean barely moved out of the way in time as Gordon came barreling past him.

Then Dean took off running to the Cornucopia. If he could get ground and leverage on Gordon, it would help.

Dean shivered as he heard Gordon yell angrily, and he let the adrenaline running through him take him the rest of the way to the Cornucopia.

Gordon wasn’t far behind him and Dean started to climb up the Cornucopia, fighting through the pain shooting through his left arm.

Gordon caught up to him and started grabbing for Dean’s leg.

Dean pulled his leg back and rammed it right into Gordon’s face, hearing a satisfying _crack_ , and Dean used Gordon’s face as the leverage he needed to climb the Cornucopia.

 

“You little fucker! I’m going to tear you apart!” Gordon howled. Dean panted and stood up on top of the Cornucopia, arming himself, and watching Gordon start to climb, blood pouring from his nose.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Dean shrugged. He leapt forward and aimed for Gordon’s hand.

Before he realized what was happening, Gordon had grabbed Dean’s wrist, forcing him to drop the knife.

Dean’s eyes grew in surprise and he tried to pull out of Gordon’s grip, which was stronger than he thought. Instead Gordon used Dean to help him get pulled up and by the time Dean managed to yank his wrist free, Gordon was standing with him on the Cornucopia.

“Oh fuck.” Dean barely muttered.

 

Gordon ran forward, and crashed into Dean. They started throwing punches and kicks, trying to get the upper hand.

Dean’s mind flashed back to what happened with Bela, and he smiled, knowing what move Gordon was going to try to pull.

Sure enough, Dean started to get the upper hand, like how Bela had. Instead of getting cocky, Dean rammed his knee into Gordon’s nuts. Gordon howled in pain and Dean brought his arm back, swinging his fist down onto Gordon’s face multiple times, his blood splashing everywhere.

Dean pulled back from the grip that Gordon had and pulled out one of the other weapons he had with him. It was a very sharp, very deadly dagger. Dean wielded it in his good hand and watched Gordon get up and pull out his own scary knife.

Dean’s lips pulled back in a sneer and he crouched, moving slowly around the side of the Cornucopia he was on.

Blood was smeared on both tributes, with more running from both of them.

“Gotta admit, 12.” Gordon spat out blood. “You’re impressive. I never thought that someone like you would’ve survived for this long.”

“Yeah, well…I have something to fight for.” Dean said.

“Oh right…that brother of yours.” Gordon said.

“Yeah. My brother. Sam. Knowing that Sammy is back home, safe, is worth more than anything that can possibly be won in these Games. And Sammy is the reason why I’m gonna go back home the winner.”

“Well then, Sammy’s gonna be in for a rude awakening when I kill you.” Gordon said. He ran forward and Dean did the same, colliding with Gordon in the middle.

 

After a few tosses and turns, Dean managed to get on top of the two of them, bringing the dagger forward. Gordon caught Dean’s wrist and gripped his bad arm tightly.

Dean yelled out and Gordon twisted their bodies, pinning Dean underneath the two of them. Gordon’s left knee was pressing into his crotch painfully hard, and his grip wasn’t lightening up on his bad arm.

Gordon brought the scary knife over to Dean’s head and nicked Dean on the cheek, watching the blood run down.

“It’s gonna be so nice to finally hear your screams.” Gordon laughed. “Maybe we can even put a show on for little Sammy, back home.”

“I’m the only one who gets to call him that.” Dean growled, fighting against Gordon’s hold as best as he could. Gordon laughed, and his grip on Dean’s arm tightened further, making Dean scream in pain.

“I’m going to gut you 12.” Gordon whispered in Dean’s ear. “And then I’m going to win these Games.”

He moved the knife to Dean’s chest and lightly dragged it, watching lines of red appear.

“Maybe if you start begging, I’ll take it easier on you. Come on 12. Beg.”

“I don’t know what kinky shit you’re into, but I’m not b-AH!” Dean screamed when Gordon pressed the blade a little further into Dean’s skin.

“Got a cocky mouth there.” Gordon said. “Wonder how well you’ll be able to speak when I cut it off?” He mused, bringing the blade up.

Dean turned his head away, trying to avoid the moving blade when he saw a few of the Mockingjays fly above in the dark sky. Dean thought about everything he’s been through so far, going back to when he volunteered for Sam. He was here for Sam. He was here so Sam wouldn’t be. He was here to win, and to go back and care of his baby brother.

_Be strong for Sammy._

Dean turned back to Gordon, feeling something different running through his veins. Dean wasn’t really sure how to describe it, but it was there.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“What?” The words took Gordon off guard.

“I’m sorry.” Dean repeated. “I’m sorry that you’re a shithead, and that you’re gonna get bested by a kid from the completely opposite district.”

With that, Dean twisted in a way that made his bad arm feel like it was being ripped from its socket. But it was enough to distract Gordon and Dean got the upper hand, twisting their two bodies around, and reaching to grab his dagger, only a few feet away.

He pounced on Gordon, and drew back the dagger, slashing Gordon in the chest, before pressing up against his throat.

“That is for every single tribute that got killed in the Games. And this for Sammy.” With that, he slashed Gordon’s throat without a bat of the eye.

 

After the cannon went off, Dean pulled back, chest heaving. The sky lightened up and he blinked, eyes trying to get used to everything. The top of the Cornucopia was a mess. Blood was smeared everywhere.

Dean knew that he didn’t look much different.

He slid of the Cornucopia, dropping the dagger, and took a few steps forward. He collapsed on his hands and knees, and once again threw up everything he had in his stomach. Then he blacked out.

 

Dean was sedated most of the ride back home to District 12. They had to do something with his arm, _not amputate it, thank god_ and he was vaguely aware that he was screaming and crying during most of it. Mostly for Sammy. The doctors stitched him up and finally he got back home.

Everything was a blur, not because it was going too fast, but just because Dean didn’t care anymore.

President Metatron visited and Dean barely noted how a crown was put on his head, showing that he won the Hunger Games.

 

It wasn’t until he was resting in the bed in Victor’s Square that he realized everything was finally done. He didn’t have to kill anyone anymore.

He was sobbing before he realized what was happening, and Sammy ran into the room, with John and Mary in tow.

Sammy curled up around Dean, holding his older brother.

“It’s gonna be OK, Dean.” Sammy murmured softly. “It’ll be OK. You’re back home. No one can hurt you anymore. No one will hurt you. I'll make sure of that. You’ve taken care of me all these years, and you even took my place for the Games. We’ll there’s something you need to know, Dean. Now it’s time for us to take care of you. I'm gonna take care of you. OK?”

“OK.” Dean said, his crying slowing. “OK, Sammy.”


End file.
